Inherent Demons
by Crenshinibon74
Summary: After everything that has happened to our favorite ninja, he has finally worked towards his goal with the woman of his dreams. As if the pressures of being a nine tailed hanyou Hokage weren't bad enough, a new threat has reared it's ugly head and endangers everything he holds dear. Facing the future, he's reminded of the past and what brought him to this new conflict. Hanyou/lemons
1. Daymares and Nightdreams

******Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Naruto. Not posting more after this, seems kind of annoying and I sure as hell didn't have anything to do with Naruto.**

**Author's Note**

**This is my first story that I have ever written and I hope to continue it for many weeks to come, so any comments give will be much appreciated it. I've always entertained the idea of both Naruto and Hinata being hanyou and I've read quite a few of the stories out there, some not making sense and some very well written and decided on it myself. My story will be taking place in different time zones from when Naruto is 12-13, to 16-17 to when he is 23ish, many of the events I will try to keep tied to the actual storyline, others I will change and or make up and add in my own bits, and I've already decided that there will be lemons in my story, probably quite a few, if that's not your thing, then don't read on. So with that in mind, I hope you like it. ^_^**

**6/7 A/N**

**So after talking with Sadstoryteller, I've gone back and redone some of the things in Chapters 1-3 that I thought were lacking and have either added onto them or changed them completely, I hope old readers enjoy the revision better and new readers like the story.**

**6/30 A/N**

**Thanks VERY much to soulfistx for the best damn review ever. So with that being said, I've gone back and redone chapters 1-6 in hopes of making them better for all readers, again. Lol, totally not against doing it to make my story better, so I hope you all enjoy.**

"_Text_" Thoughts

"**Text**" Kyuubi/Kurama

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Ch.1

Grudgingly opening his eyes, once again, he found his hazy gaze cast on the far wall. Blinking several times to clear his vision, he shifted his line of sight toward the clock on the nearby end table. It read 3:40; it had been another sleepless night.

Carefully rolling onto his back then propping himself up on his arms, he feels a soft breeze waft in. Looking up, he noticed the window above the bed was opened halfway letting the moon light in on the opposite side of the bed.

Following the light, he can't help but stare at the woman next to him. The moon gave her a soft glow, making her all the more enchanting to look upon. Her long midnight blue hair flowing down her body and framing her angel-like face with three light whiskers etched across each cheek. Adorned atop of her head was a pair of fox ears, much like her mate, matching the color of her hair.

He smiles affectionately, leaning towards the sleeping woman and softly places a kiss on her slightly rosy cheek. "I love you Hinata," he whispered in a hushed tone, he pulls away and lifts the covers to find her soft tails, matching her hair in color, but tipped white, were strewn across his waist. Removing them gently so as to not wake her, he manages to worm his way out of the bed.

He reluctantly sits on the edge of the bed and picks up some clothes lying on the floor in front of him. His actions cause the bed to shift ever so slightly, which he pays no heed to until he feels movement behind him. His body tenses for a moment, hoping that she wasn't waking up, gradually his head turns towards her direction. He finds that she had moved slightly over to his side of the bed and softly moans in her sleep, "Naruto..."

Finding himself in the clear, Naruto slips on a pair of blue cargo pants and a simple white t-shirt and silently sneaks over to the door. Effectively dodging the few clothes that littered the floor on his side of the room, he reaches the door and slides it open. Pausing to take one last glance back at his wife before he heads out into the night.

Once outside, his blonde fox ears twitch back and forth and detect only the usual, the wind rustling through the trees and crickets chirping in the night air. He closes his eyes and sniffs the air a few times to make sure nothing is amiss, finishing his perimeter check, he steps forward and down into the garden.

His eyes wander around his surroundings, the outer walkway enclosed the garden leading all the way around with a awning covering it, the inner walkway lead through the garden and connected to all 4 sides to the outer walkway. Several doors ran the length of the outer walkway leading to spare bedrooms and miscellaneous other rooms, his destination however was right in front of him as he walks towards the two story living room/kitchen.

Reaching the end of the garden, he shifts his gaze to the roof and jumps onto the awning and then onto the roof of the two story building. He then proceeded to walk around to the front of the roof, his blonde white-tipped tails slowly sway back and forth in the wind while overlooking the village of Konoha.

"Hard to believe that the village prankster would have ever become Hokage," he commented to himself. His blue slited eyes shift over to the Hokage monument, immediately falling upon the heads of the Yondaime and Godaime, "And I have you two to thank for it Otou-san, Baa-chan".

A smile forms on his lips at the memories of the short time he was able to spend with his mother and father and finding out his true heritage. They gradually shift to memories of Tsunade either yelling at him or giving him one hell of a beating, to the day she handed him the Hokage hat and told him the words he had been dying to hear since as long as he can remember.

He sits down and leans back onto the roof, looking at the moon, his thoughts shifting to the image of Hinata in the luminescent glow on the bed. Naruto cant help but smile as he begins to think of when their relationship first started out...

10 years ago...

A young Naruto had just collapsed after a long and exhausting challenge trying to stay on Gamabunta for an entire day. After being left in the hospital, Naruto awoke a few days later to continue his training with Jiraiya for the Chuunin exams. However, the great Toad Sage was no where to be found, leaving the blonde with exactly a week with not many options left for him. While pondering what to do with the time he had left, he happened to run into his long-time crush, Sakura Haruno, who had no feelings for him what so ever. This unfortunately never stopped the blonde from trying to gain her affection, which always ended up negatively for the poor boy.

"Sakura-chan, how about going out with me to eat?" he nervously asked, a light blush creeping across his cheeks as he scratched the back of his head.

"For the last time Naruto, NO MEANS NO, so quit asking me out!" the pink haired kuinochi snapped. "You know I don't like you, you're loud and annoying and I only care about Sasuke!" Her eye twitched from the anger that was overloading her system, she was hoping that she had finally got it through to the happy-go-lucky blonde.

"I don't know why you like the guy so much," Naruto commented turning away and putting his hands onto the back of his head while closing his eyes as if in thought. "All the guy does is brood about this or that, besides I could kick his butt hands down".

As soon as the last word left his lips, he felt a great anger aimed in his general direction. Knowing the feeling all too well, his eyes snap open and he begins to sweat profusely. Reluctantly, he begins to look over his shoulder to find a very pissed off Sakura.

"NARRRUUTTOOOOO!" she screeched full of rage, arm cocked back ready to unleash her destructive fury on the unfortunate blond. Naruto began to turn and bring his arms up to protect himself, but she proved to be the faster as he took the fist into his cheek. The god like strength behind the punch throwing him through the nearby fence and into the wall of the house next to it. His body unceremoniously sliding down the wall as Sakura storms off, "___What did I say…_" were Naruto's last thoughts as he falls into oblivion.

At that same particular instant, Hinata and Kiba happened to be nearby talking about the fights in the Chuunin exam. Their conversation was brought to an abrupt halt when they hear a loud crash and notice a dust cloud a few blocks ahead of them.

"What the hell was that?" Kiba questioned while looking up at the small white dog atop of his head for a possible answer.

"Arf Arf," Akamaru barks and looks down at his master.

"Naruto and Sakura?" Kiba repeated while lifting an eyebrow, glancing over to where the commotion was taking place.

Hinata shifts her gaze toward Kiba at the mention of Naruto's name. "N…Naruto-kun?" As if on cue, a still very pissed off Sakura stomps out of the alley that she left Naruto in and storms off into the opposite direction.

"Heh, my guess is Naruto said something to piss off Sakura, that guy just doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut, come on Hinata," Kiba starts to pick up the pace to the alley with Hinata on his heels.

As they turn the corner, they quickly discover the wreck that is known as Naruto Uzumaki among the pieces of fence strewn across his unconscious body.

"Aww man, she really did a number on him," Kiba remarked as he starts to scratch the back of his head while Hinata moves to uncover Naruto, "Remind me to not get on her bad side".

Hinata stops for a second after clearing the blondes body, "Please help me Kiba-kun."

She picks up one of Naruto's arms as a crimson blush spreads across her cheeks at the closeness of her childhood crush, but doing her best to not faint. Once they pick him up, they notice the two newest additions to Naruto, the large swollen bruise on his cheek and the mountain sized bump on his head.

"That looks like it hurts," Kiba started to laugh until he noticed the death glare Hinata was giving him which quickly silenced him.

Hinata looks around after quieting Kiba and spots a bench nearby,"Let's go sit him down there Kiba-kun". Hinata leads the way as they carry Naruto over to the bench and plop him down, Hinata sits down next to him and starts to look him over.

"He's not dead is he?" Kiba's fear of Sakura growing, with everything else he's seen he was already afraid of the pink haired girl.

"No, he is still breathing," she replied, not finding any other injuries except the bruise and lump on his head.

"Well, let's go Hinata, nothing we can really do for the guy, he's out cold," Kiba started to turn and walk away when Hinata spoke up.

"I'll stay here and make sure he's alright," she informed him, Kiba looks back at his team mate, knowing full well of her crush on the blonde. He simply shrugs and walks off, "Suit yourself, I'll cya later".

Hinata nods and watches Kiba as he turns the corner, once out of sight, she sighs softly to herself and looks at the unconscious blonde. "___Oh Naruto-kun…how I wish I could tell you how much I care about you…_"her eyes fixed on his chest, watching it rise and fall with each breath. Naruto suddenly shifts slightly in his sleep and falls into Hinata's lap causing the Hyūga heiress to squeak and blush tomato red at the unexpected closeness, doing her best to not pass out.

Minutes passed by before she was able to control her breathing and calm down, her gaze never leaving the blondes face. "___He's adorable when he sleeps...__" she smiles and nervously _reaches out with her right hand and runs it through his hair.

Naruto moves a little in his sleep at the touch, Hinata quickly jerks her hand back and stares wide eyed at him from the unexpected movement hoping that he didn't wake up.

"___Pull it together Hinata, he's still asleep,__"_ she brought her other hand up to her chest and gently clenches her fist to help relax. As she calms, she once again reaches out and starts to pet his head, this time Naruto doesn't move.

Hinata completely loses track of the time nor does she care at the particular instant, as far as she was concerned she was in heaven with the person she cared about the most. "___One step at a time,_" she encouraged herself, smiling happily again at Naruto's sleeping face.

Naruto starts to come to, he feels something rubbing against the top of his head, "___The hell is that__?_" He wonders, "___It feels...kind of nice_".

The unknown rubbing continues as he lays there motionless, enjoying the feeling of contentment that oozes throughout his body. "___Okay, I really need to figure out what that is,_" he starts to move and hears a sudden intake of air and the rubbing sensation suddenly stop while still feeling pressure of something being there.

Groggily opening his eyes, he is forced to squint from the bright light. Making out the outline of something above him, he blinks several times to clear his blurry vision. As it clears, the two teens find themselves gazing into each others eyes, Naruto into her lavender eyes and Hinata into his cerulean orbs. "H…Hinata?" he notices her face turn a deep red as they continue to stare at one another before she finally replies.

"N…N…Naruto-kun," she replies sheepishly in her normal stutter whenever she happens to get close to him.

He watches as her eyes roll up into the back of her head, her body going limp as she faints with her hand dropping from his head.

"Well that's weird," he remarked, continuing his gaze on her features, his mind starts to take him down an avenue he had never ventured before.

"___She looks kind of cute..._" he thinks to himself as he looks over her soft pale face, he smiles until his gaze starts to drift down her body. Realizing where he happens to have his head, he blushes deeply and jerks to try and get off of the sleeping Hyuuga to land on the floor at her feet.

"Oww…that hurt…" he rolls over then proceeds to stand up. Finding that she is still asleep, he decides to wait it out for her to wake up, sitting comfortably next to the sleeping girl.

After a few minutes, he notices Hinata starting to stir. Her eyes fluttering open, her gaze falls on her empty lap. The implication rushes through her head as she quickly glances over and sees him staring back at her. As their eyes bore into each others, she turns several shades of red under his gaze.

"Hey Hinata, why are you all red?" he asked, tilting his head to the side a little as she turns a bright red, fading into unconsciousness again.

"Oh come on! I didn't even do anything!" he scratches the top of his head in frustration and sighs. "Guess I'll just have to wait again".

Reclining his head back to rest on the top of the bench, he absentmindedly watches the clouds drift by while waiting for her to wake up. Slowly memories of Hinata started to creep into his mind, how Hinata always acted nervously when ever he happened by, how she always follows him when she thinks him unaware, the way her stutter increases when ever she was near him. As each memory ran though Naruto's mind one by one, he turns his head and looks at the sleeping Hyuuga.

"___Does she have a thing for me?__" he ponders the thought, "____Hmm...__". Shifting his attention back to the _clouds, he continues to think about Hinata. After a few more minutes, he's drawn from his contemplation as he hears Hinata start to wake up again. Subconsciously putting distance between them as she once again looks over at him.

"Fall asleep again Hinata?" he inquired, giving his characteristic grin. Hinata blushes, but manages to somehow not pass out.

"I'm f…fine Naruto-kun, j…just haven't had a…anything to eat lately," she replies, poking her fingers together nervously while staring at the ground in front of her. Several awkward seconds pass after telling him her excuse, "___I hope he buys it…_".

Naruto continued to stare at her, a grin slowly creeping across his face "Alright then, how about we go out to eat, my treat!" he offered with a brilliant smile. He watches as she turns blood red and passes out again, causing him to sweat drop. "Not again…" he sighs.


	2. A Scalding Date

**A/N: Welcome back, for some reason, the A/N that was originally here was erased somewhere down the line and I never realized it until I went back to make modifications to my story. Anyway, at this point I hope that you all like the revisions that will continue up to the other chapters. Enjoy : )**

* * *

**Ch.2**

Hinata started coming to. Having the distinct feeling she was being carried, though she hadn't the slightest clue as to why. Her last thoughts were of sitting on a bench with an unconscious Naruto, passing out several times and... having the blonde ask her out to eat! Upon her recollection, a blush began to force it's way over her, until she was brought out of her thoughts by faint voices. In her foggy state of mind, the voices were at a muffled volume and seemed to be coming from a distance; slowly gaining more feeling as she awoke, she felt the person carrying her come to a stop.

"Welcome back Naruto!" the owners of the Ichiraku Ramen stand; Teuchi and his daughter Ayame cheered happily, welcoming back their favorite and best customer. Ayame noticed the girl on Naruto's back almost instantly, furrowing her brow while looking on, she curiously inquired "What happened to her?

Naruto stares at Ayame and blinks several times before realizing who she was talking about. "Oh right, this is Hinata. She passed out earlier on a bench while talking to me, no idea why, all I did was offer to take her to eat and out she went," he explained, still oblivious as to what drove the Hyūga girl to faint like she did.

Ayame at this point can't help but turn to her father who stood there shaking his head at how clueless the boy was. Naruto meanwhile moved a stool over to the wall with his foot and propped Hinata against the wall so she wouldn't fall.

While thinking the whole scenario adorable, Ayame also couldn't fathom how oblivious the blonde was to Hinata's affection. The entire village was aware of her crush on Naruto; everyone but the crush-ee himself, Naruto.

After carefully making sure that Hinata wasn't going anywhere, Naruto took the stool next to her, sat and politely waited.

Both Teuchi and Ayame curiously watched the boy. "Aren't you going to order?" Ayame asked puzzled, usually the blonde couldn't stay quiet or display any level of patience at all, when it came to ramen.

Sheepishly scratching the back of his head, Naruto replies with a light blush. "No, I think it would be best if I wait for Hinata to wake up. It wouldn't be right for me to offer her food, then turn around and eat while she sleeps."

Both father and daughter smiled at the hint of maturity Naruto somehow acquired, Teuchi nods in approval and turns back to get things ready. None of them seeming to notice the blush creeping across Hinata's face at hearing Naruto's comment.

Hinata had been up long enough to hear the whole dialog and was also very much aware that Naruto carried her through town on his back to the food stand. "___Don't pass out…don't pass out…DON'T PASS OUT, you can do this,_" she sighs, letting the tension and embarrassment ease out of her system. She opens her eyes to find the blonde staring at her, with Ayame watching the whole thing from the sidelines.

"You ready to eat?" Naruto grins brightly as the blood rushes back to Hinata's face. All Hinata can manage at this point is a very slight nod of her head. "Go on and order then Hinata, I'll get mine after you".

Hinata slowly turns her body to put her hands on the bar for support while looking at the menu. After a quick glance, she gathers herself together, face still red.

"O-one miso ramen," she speaks softly. Unfortunately neither Teuchi nor Ayame could hear her over the noise Teuchi was making.

"Sorry, come again?" Teuchi comments over his shoulder.

Hinata tries to speak up a little, "One miso ramen…please," she repeated, but not loud enough.

"Really sorry, but I still can't hear you over the noise", Teuchi almost stops what he's doing right before Hinata quickly stands up, something snapping in her as she yells her order, eyes closed.

"ONE MISO RAMEN!" she shouted, her eyes instantly snapping open as she realizes what she did. She squeaks and sits down with a hand over her mouth, her face flushing bright red. Teuchi, Ayame and Naruto all look at the Hyuuga, stunned by the sudden outburst. Naruto quickly snaps out of it and places his order before things get any worse.

"I'll take a pork ramen old man!" he says in his normally loud voice which shocks Teuchi and Ayame back to reality.

"One miso and pork ramen coming up!" Teuchi repeated, turning to resume his work as things start to die down again after Hinata's outburst as Ayame pretends to be working while listening to the two kids.

"Hinata, is everything alright?" Naruto looks at her, deeply concerned that something is amiss with the girl.

Hinata sighs and squeezes the bar to relieve some of the tension, shifting her vision towards Naruto, a slight smile gracing her lips at his concern for her well being. "I'm fine Naruto-kun…thank you though".

"If you say so…" he hesitantly remarked before turning back to the bar as they wait for their food. A long awkward silence permeated the air, neither one sure what to say to the other.

"___Ask him something,_" Hinata mentally kicks herself into trying to start a conversation. "What h…ave you been up t-to for the last month?" she inquired, turning her attention towards Naruto. The boy leans back, puts his hands on the back of his head and gazes at the ceiling in recollection.

"It's been one of those months I guess, first Kakashi-sensei decided he was going to teach Sasuke and left me with closet perv Ebisu," he started off. "He started to teach me water walking before we ran into Pervy Sage, Pervy Sage then did something to me so I was able to water walk easier, it still kind of hurts my stomach". At that thought, Naruto moves a hand to his gut where the Kyuubi resided.

"___Probably best that I don't tell her about that…she might hate me like everyone else..._" returning from his thoughts, Naruto looks over at Hinata with a bright grin on his face. "Then the Pervy sage tried to kill me, but because of the it, I was able to master a really cool jutsu!" he happily exclaimed.

Hinata's eyes snap wide open as she hears about Naruto's near death experience. "He tried to kill you?!" unknowingly, her hands grip the bar tightly causing her knuckles to glow a hot white.

"That doesn't really matter though, I mastered a really awesome jutsu! Hehehe," he finished, his grin growing ever wider at the thought of mastering a jutsu.

Watching his reaction, she slowly lessens her grip on the bar and lightly giggles. "_O____nly Naruto would block out almost dying just to be happy over a jutsu,_" smiling at the excited Naruto. At that moment their food was ready.

"All ready, enjoy!" Teuchi handed the food to the correct patron and walked off, Naruto could barely contain himself.

"Mm mm, looks delicious!" he quickly reaches over for a pair of chop sticks at the same instant Hinata did. Both oblivious to the other until their hands collide, Naruto's hand covering Hinata's while reaching for the same exact pair of chopsticks.

Both teens feel blood rushing to their cheeks as they remove their hands and look opposite ways. Teuchi and Ayame watch the two lovebirds, smile and busy themselves to give them some privacy.

"You…go ahead Hinata," he offered without turning to look at the girl, unable to deal with the embarrassment as much as Hinata.

"Thank you…" she replies, reaching to pull out a pair and breaks them apart. Upon hearing the sound, Naruto then turns and reaches for his own pair, quickly snapping them apart. "Itadakimasu!"he exclaimed while quickly diving into his ramen, slurping down mouthfuls. Contrary to Naruto, Hinata is much more reserved in the eating of her own ramen, which would be plainly obvious to anyone who cared to observe them.

In between a mouthful, Naruto glances over at Hinata while she eats. "So what about you Hinata, what have you been up to?" he inquired, then resumed his devouring of the delicious noodles in front of him.

Hinata stops for a second and looks down at her bowl of ramen in contemplation. "Going back and forth between the hospital and home, I haven't really been able to push myself due to the injuries Neji-nii-san gave me during the preliminaries," she softly stated, her body shaking slightly while fighting the urge to cry.

"Otou-san hasn't been pushing me to train so I can recover faster, both Kiba-kun and Shino-kun probably hate me for not being able to do anything. Neither of them have been on a mission while I've been recovering," she finished, her eyes start to water up at the thought of her always being the problem.

Naruto finishes guzzling down his ramen and looks at the Hyūga heiress. "I don't see how anyone could hate you Hinata, your such a great person, you're always nice, you never hit people like Sakura-chan knocks the crap out of me, you're always so giving and you think of others before yourself. Besides, you weren't the only one out of commission I'm sure, I did a nice little number on Kiba before Neji got to you, I bet he was out for awhile, so don't feel too bad. If it makes you feel better, I'll be sure to wipe the floor with Neji at the Chuunin exams, dattebayo!" he finishes with a brilliant grin while looking at Hinata. His words having a impact on her, just not the one he was thinking of.

Hinata stares at Naruto, _blushing a deep red after having heard his whole speech. "____He said all that…about me__?_", finding it hard to breath with all the blood rushed to her face, she passes out, her hand dipping into her bowl of ramen as she falls toward Naruto.

"Hinata!" he exclaimed, just managing to catch the falling Hyūga, but was unable to stop the momentum as they tumble out of the stools and onto the ground. Hinata's hardly touched ramen came crashing down on top of the couple, mainly Naruto's face. "HOT! HOT! HOOOOOOOTTTT!", he screeched loudly at the pain and not really able to do anything with Hinata's unconscious body lying atop of his.

Various passersby took a brief pause to look on at the commotion, however, upon seeing the said commotion's source was Konoha's biggest prankster, they chose to simply return to what they had been doing; others, less familiar with such phenomena, openly stared at the growing spectacle

After Hinata came to, blushing bright red after hearing what happened apologizes fiercely as Naruto towels himself off with a rag that Ayame handed him.

"It's fine Hinata, I'm just glad your alright," saying it as reassuringly as possible. "___At least for now…but what a day for me, knocked out by Sakura and now covered in hot ramen by Hinata, why can't I get a break…_" he sighs inwardly so as not to cause the Hyūga even more distress.

After he finishes drying himself off, Teuchi was kind enough to make Hinata another bowl of miso ramen, which Naruto wisely backed away from Hinata as she ate it.

"___Great…now he thinks I'm going to hurt him again…why am I such a clutz?__" mentally berating herself as _she eats in silence while Naruto busies himself by watching Teuchi at work. After finishing her meal, finally, Naruto payed for the bill and they both exited the little stand into the night air.

"Wow it's late, time sure does fly sometimes. Hinata, let me walk you home," he genuinely offered. After the whole incident, she simply nods in reply so as not make any more mess ups.

As their walking together towards the Hyuuga compound, Hinata can't help but notice all the hateful stares aimed at the bright orange dressed Naruto next to her. She shifts her gaze to the blonde, his characteristic smile on as if nothing is wrong, but she sees the pain he tries to hide behind that smile.

"___Why do they hate him so much, what did he ever do to them?__" bringing a hand up to her chest as she wonders why could have brought on so much hate to the boy. Naruto starts to speak up, bringing her out of her musing._

"Hey Hinata, I know this is kind of sudden, but I want to ask you something," they continue walking with Naruto looking off into the distance and Hinata unable to keep her eyes off of him.

"Y…yes Naruto-kun?" she replies sheepishly, a light blush coloring her cheeks as she wonders what kind of question would Naruto ask her.

"I was wondering,…if you're up to it, I still have a week left to train and since Neji is my opponent, I would like to see what I have to go up against first hand," he nervously asked, oblivious to the sadness etched on Hinata's face.

_'____Just like Naruto, straight as an arrow after what he wants…even if it is just training…'_ Hinata softly sighs until an idea began to form. '___This would be a perfect time to be alone with Naruto…just the two of __us' _smiling happily at the thought, she replies "Of course I will Naruto-kun".

"Great, what time would work best for you? I don't leave my place till about 9," glancing over at his new training partner with a smile on his face.

"9 is perfect," she agreed, her mind imagining what the week alone with Naruto would be like before his voice suddenly snaps her back to reality.

"We're here, guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Training ground 7 sound good?" he tilts his head to the side as he gazing at the blushing girl.

"Mmhmm, sounds good to me Naruto-kun, see you then," she smiles and walks into the compound, disappearing into one of the many buildings scattered around on the property.

Naruto smiles to himself while walking off towards his small little apartment, slightly looking forward to being with Hinata…

* * *

Present Day…

Naruto closes his eyes tight as he starts to have a headache, the usual symptom whenever his other half decides to come out. Naruto's eyes open, one eye being still his usual blue while the other had turned red to suit the other personality fused with his.

"******One of those nights again kit****?**" the Kyuubi asks his host using Naruto's own lips for speech, his voice changing back and forth between the two speakers.

"You know I hate it when we share a body like this Kurama," he commented, Naruto never being overly fond of the whole concept of having to sharing his body.

"******Then you know what you have to do, baka,**" Kurama retorted with a grin, causing Naruto's face to grin as well, exposing his razor sharp canines.

"Yea yea, "Naruto closes his eyes and performs the seal to one of his trade mark jutsu. "**Kage Bunshin no jutsu,**" with a cloud of smoke, a clone was sitting to Naruto's side both performing the hand sign. Both real and clone opened their eyes after several seconds, the real Naruto having both his eyes back to their regular blue while the clone had Kurama's blood red eyes.

"**Mmmm********, feels good to be out once in awhile,**" Kurama commented as he stretched, enjoying the wind blowing on his face. Naruto simply looked over at his clone, slightly smiling to see the fox enjoy himself in the body given to him.

Looking over his clone, Naruto smiles even more seeing how much like his father he had become with aspects of his mother's features in his face. The only things he never got from either of them, but from his other persona was the two blonde fox ears that sat atop of his head, the dark whisker marks etched on his cheeks, the sharpened canines and nails, down to the nine blonde tails that Kurama was only too happy to wave around in the air.

Kurama notices the look he is being given by his host and lifts an eyebrow. "******What are you looking at?**" he inquired, still enjoying being out in a body of his own.

Naruto shakes his head and looks back at the moon again, "**It's nothing, just thinking to myself**".

"**Hmm********, very well, so tell me kit, still having issues sleeping****?**" Kurama asks, showing some concern in the health of his host.

"Heh, to think that the mighty Kyuubi would be asking about my health when he's trapped in my body", Naruto can't help but chuckle at the irony.

Kurama's tails puff out in agitation, "**I********'m not the one who wanted to be fused with you like this, I'm simply asking for my own well being!**" he corrected while scowling at Naruto.

Naruto smiles and looks at the fox, "It's alright Kurama, no need to hide it, I know you care on some level about me so I don't want to hear to the contrary," he grins as Kurama's face goes from anger to shock as he quickly looks away.

"******Haven't the slightest damn idea what you're talking about kit,**" never one for admitting he was wrong, especially to Naruto. After a minute of silence with Naruto staring at the moon and Kurama looking over the village that was now his home, even after his attack on it all those years ago. Kurama broke the silence, "******You never answered my question.**"

Naruto sighs and lazily closes his eyes, "I don't know… I guess from all the stress of being Hokage, that nightmare doesn't exactly help either".

"******Kit, you know you had no control over that, besides, it all worked out in the end right? As far as the Hokage thing, that's your own fault for wanting the job dumb ass,**" a grin moving across Kurama's face as he tries to comfort the blonde in his own way.

Naruto laughs, "Yeah, I guess so!" He starts to rub the back of his head until both Naruto and Kurama's ears perk up at the slightest of noises, Naruto sniffs the air and grins brightly at the familiar scent. "You know, it's not polite to eavesdrop on friends, even if your Kazekage," both Naruto and Kurama turn their heads toward the corner of the small extended roof where their guest had been sitting for a few minutes.

He smiles slightly as he steps out of the shadows and into the moon light, setting his gaze on both his long time friend and his bijuu. "And here I thought I was the one who was supposed to have the sleeping problems," he commented casually.

"Heh, you haven't changed much, my friend," Naruto informed him while looking Gaara over to find his appearance hasn't changed in all these years. His auburn hair matching his red coat, a vest strapped over one shoulder leading to his stomach connecting the giant gourd to his back, his pants a midnight black as well as the outline of his eyes from lack of sleep over the many years of being the host of Shukaku, the kanji on his forehead still glowing bright red to match auburn his hair.

"Could say the same of you, your still slightly unbearable to be around," Gaara commented, causing Kurama to laugh while Naruto glares at the two.

"******Be glad you don't have to suffer him every day, I'd feel sorry for anyone who has to,**" Kurama chimed in while wiping his eyes from laughing so hard. Naruto stares at the fox with a dead pan look.

"You have to suffer me every day you baka fox…" Unable to help himself, Gaara lets out a soft chuckle as Kurama glares at the blonde.

After things calm down, Naruto looks to his old friend. "Shukaku still giving you issues?" he lifts an eyebrow as he asks the question.

Gaara shakes his head slightly, "No, we have found a happy medium for both of us, I can finally sleep without having to worry. I've just grown used to insomnia after so long without sleep" he replied as he shifted his gaze to Kurama. "What were you saying about Naruto's sleep issues?"

Kurama let out a deep sigh, "******The kit has been having a nightmare for years now and still hasn't forgiven himself over it, plus the added stress of being Hokage has only added onto it****".**** Shrugging as he continued,** "T**he baka won't listen to me, maybe you can get through to him**".

Gaara set his to his long time friend, "Naruto, I know the person you are, while I understand the stresses of being a Kage just as well as you, you can't let your past mistakes eat you alive. If you do, you only harm yourself and the people who care for you," a frown forming on Gaara's face, now understanding the problems his friend is facing.

Naruto lets out a soft sigh while replying, "Easier said then done". He hears footsteps and watches as Gaara slowly walk up to him. Without any warning, Gaara lightly smacks Naruto upside the back of the head. Both Kurama and Naruto are stunned by the action of the usually emotionless Kazekage.

"Forgive yourself before I have to keep hitting you for being an idiot. You've helped me numerous times and it's time for me to return the favor," Gaara calmly stated, looking down at Naruto as the blonde stared back. Naruto's ear suddenly shifts upon hearing the soft sound of bare feet stepping onto the tiles of the roof.

"I agree with you, Godaime-sama," all three men turn towards the sound of the female voice.

There standing on the roof with the moon directly behind her was Hinata, her nine tails swaying back and forth. The lack of light shadowing her face, however Naruto's keen eyesight reflects the light so he sees his wife in all her splendor. Her white skin glowing in the radiance of the moon as she slowly walks toward the men, Naruto can't help but gaze down her body to see she is wearing a short white robe that stops midway down her thigh, but perfectly hugs her every curve as her hips swing back and forth ever so slightly with each step. His gaze slowly shifts back up to her face, the light causing her hair to glow a soft blue, her Hyūga eyes, normally pupil-less, have a vertical slit much like his own, an affectionate smile gracing her soft lips.

All 3 men continue to stare at this goddess before Gaara snaps out of it. "Please, Gaara is fine, I hear enough of the formalities everywhere else, no need for it with my friends".

Hinata looks at Gaara with her smile still drawn across her lips. "Very well, Gaara," she replied, her voice as if kissed by angels. She glancing over at the clone of her husband, she slightly lifts an eyebrow, "I see your keeping my husband company during his self beating?"

Kurama closes his eyes and casually shrugs, "******It's what I do best, not like the baka ever listens to me anyways**".

Hinata giggles softly, "He listens to you more than you know Kurama-kun". She fixes her eyes on her husband, who is still staring awe-struck with her beauty.

"I was sleeping so peacefully until I awoke to the faintest sound of a VERY loud man laughing to find that my husband had once again snuck out of bed without waking me," she stands in front of Naruto and leans forward, giving him a perfect view of her cleavage with his face inches from hers.

Naruto blinks several times, still at a loss for words. Kurama glances at Gaara, "******Smack him to get his ass out of the clouds**". Gaara, his eyes fixed on the interaction between Naruto and Hinata, lifts an eyebrow as he listens to Kurama's request, he starts to pull his hand back as Hinata looks at him.

"Don't worry, I'll handle him," she smiles brightly as Gaara crosses his arms to let have her wish. Looking back into the eyes of her husband, she put a hand on his chin to close his mouth, she leans forward slightly and presses her lips to his, closing her eyes as she softly kisses him. The action getting Naruto's head out of the clouds as he kisses his wife back. After what felt like an eternity to the couple, Hinata slowly pulls away and smiles while looking into Naruto's eyes. "See? My way was much better," Naruto simply nods his head, still in the afterglow of the kiss.

Kurama leans back onto the roof and closes his eyes before commenting, "**I still say we should have smacked him**". His ears twitch at the sound of Hinata's soft footsteps inching closer and closer to him until he feels her soft lips kiss his cheeks.

"If I didn't know better, I would say that you were jealous Kurama-kun," letting out a soft giggle as Kurama's eyes shoot open, instead of looking at her, he looks away.

"******I have no idea what in the world you're talking about,**" Kurama tries his best too look unattached, but under the penetrating gaze of Mrs. Namikaze, nothing is hidden.

Hinata giggles as she looks over at Gaara, "Thank you for keeping my husband company, but it is very late and we both have to be up early, so I will be taking my husband back to bed now," she glances over at Naruto, "Right Naruto?"

"Aww shit, I forgot I had to be up!" Naruto scratches his head in frustration causing the other 3 to laugh. Naruto stands up and looks at his wife, "Well, let's head back then," he holds his arm out for the woman, which she happily accepts. Some of their tails wrap together in affection as Hinata lays her head on Naruto's shoulder, he smiles and softly kisses one of her fox ears, causing Hinata to softly moan from her overly sensitive ear being touched.

He then looks over at Gaara, "Guess were heading to bed, thanks for keeping me company." Gaara nods and smiles at his friend as the couple slowly walk over to the edge of the roof, Naruto yells over his shoulder at Kurama, "Don't cause too much trouble Kurama while I'm asleep."

Gaara glances at Kurama, then towards the couple, "I'll keep him busy until he returns to you, I won't be going to sleep any time soon." Naruto waves as he and Hinata jump off the roof leaving Kurama and Gaara alone.

The couple walk through the garden and back into their fairly large bedroom, the king sized bed sitting in the middle, Hinata's side of the room is spotless with a desk sitting halfway across the wall, a plant sitting on the corner with some paper work and a mirror placed neatly on the top. A lamp on the end table next to her bed with her own clock reading 4:10 and bookcase sitting next to the bed stocked full of books and a hamper in the corner. On Naruto's side was his own desk, papers strewn every which way with a few ramen cups here and there. Some of his closes were close to his own hamper, but were scattered around on the floor. A mini fridge sat on the floor next to his desk with a bonsai tree sitting on top.

As they walk closer to the bed, Hinata slowly pulls away and undoes her robe, letting it fall to the ground causing Naruto to gaze at his wife in all her naked glory, his eyes going down her back elegantly covered by her long dark hair, her tails waving slighting as she feels his gaze on her body. She smiles and crawls into the bed, covering herself as she looks over at Naruto and beckons him to bed with a finger.

Naruto takes off his shirt and tosses it over in the general direction of the hamper, not making it close to the mark, he moves some of his tails as he lifts a foot back and pulls off his shoe and lays it by the door and repeats the process to the other one before he slips off both his pants and boxers, picking them up with his tails, he walks over to the bed, Hinata's eyes following him and gazing down his very well toned body, down to his member being at half mast causing a light blush to creep across her face.

Naruto tosses his clothes into the hamper as he walks by and slides into the bed, smiling at the beautiful woman, covering himself with the blankets, once he gets settled, Hinata slides over to him and moves her upper body over his. Their eyes lock together as she leans forward and deeply kisses him, her soft breasts pressing against his chest.

He wraps his arms around her delicately and pulls her more against him, which she is only too happy to do while moving her right leg up across his waist and and then down between his legs. They continue to make out for a little longer until they both need to catch their breath, their eyes never leaving one another as they enjoy the afterglow. Hinata then softly kisses down his neck to his chest where she lays her head against it, his strong heart beat like a lullaby. His right hand finds her left and their fingers entwine together as she lays her right hand against his right bicep.

"I love you Naruto…" she whispers softly as sleep starts to claim her for the 2nd time that night.

"I love you too Hinata…" he yawns, while enjoying the sensation of her soft body pressed against his, he finds the idea of sleep more and more tantalizing. With nothing holding him back, he slowly succumbs to a more peaceful slumber.


	3. Past Meets Present

**Ch. 3**

Naruto was in a deep sleep until something started to flick against his nose causing him to twitch. Whatever it was flicked across his nose several more times causing him to wake up with the overwhelming urge to sneeze. Quickly sitting up as his nose twitched, "Ah…Ah…AH!" he clamps a hand over his mouth and nose as he sneezes, popping his ear drums and giving him a slight headache. "Damn that hurt…"

Naruto starts to rub his temples to try and relieve some of the pain, angrily glancing around to find the culprit that caused him to sneeze. His anger dissipates as he finds the culprit, one of Hinata's tails had found its way to his nose and was flicking against it in his sleep. Looking over to his wife and finding that she had rolled over while in her sleep, her back uncovered all the way down to her hips where her tails were spread out across the bed.

He grins slightly and decides to slowly move himself up behind the sleeping woman, leaving just enough of a gap for him to slide a hand down to just above her tail, gently pressing and rubbing each vertebra as he creeps his hand slowly up her back.

Hinata starts to stir at the wonderful sensation on her back, causing her to softly moan each time she feels the pressure along her spine. The pleasure instinctively causing her to arch forward each time, leaning her head into the pillows exposing her neck, exactly as Naruto had planned.

He leans forward and softly kisses from the base of her neck up to her jaw as his hand stops between her shoulder blades. Hinata moans a little louder as he gets closer to finishing, all the sensations causing her to blush as she becomes fully awake. He reaches the base of her neck and rubs it a little bit while propping himself up on his unused arm, leaning over her shoulder and gazing down at her with a bright smile.

"Enjoying yourself are we?" he watches as Hinata lazily opens her eyes and looks at him out of the corner.

"You just love to tease me don't you...though I don't mind waking up like this," she informed him while smiling happily as she arches her back more, pushing her chest out and pressing her bare hips up against Naruto's naked waist. An eyebrow arching as she feels his arousal rubbing up against her backside.

"Seems I'm not the only one who enjoyed themselves," she remarked, smiling at him as she turns her head and looks up into his blue eyes.

Naruto shrugs slightly, "That and a mix of I gotta hit the bathroom," making a soft chuckle. Hinata rolls her eyes at his smart ass remark and playfully hits his chest, causing him to laugh.

"Your horrible," she states to the blonde as she pretends to be angry, giving a slight pout while looking away from him. Naruto smiles as he brings his hand around to her chin and gently turns her back to look at him.

"You know I'm only joking," he replies, Hinata shakes her head in answer, causing Naruto to smile and roll his eyes as he leans forward and presses his lips against her pouting lips. She starts to resist at first, but is unable to hold her fight for long as she starts to kiss him back, wrapping her arms casually around his neck. His tongue darts out to rub across her lips and the front of her teeth as she gives in, moving her own tongue out to rub against his.

Before they can get too heated, Naruto reluctantly pulls away and looks down at his beloved. "That better?" he asks, grinning slightly as he lifts an eyebrow. Hinata can't help it as his infectious grin causes a smile of her own to grave her lips as she looks deep into his eyes.

"Maybe..." she glances over at the clock showing that it was 8am. "You might want to go get ready Mr. Has a too busy day to mess with his wife," she sticks out her tongue as he sighs at her reminder of what he was supposed to be doing today.

"Yea yea…" he dejectedly commented, reluctantly moving off of her and crawls out of the bed. As he walks toward the bathroom, he earns a toe tap to the naked behind, causing him to turn and look back as he walks away. She smiles and waves good bye as he disappears into the bathroom.

Hinata stretches lazily in the bed now having it all to herself, smiling as she looks upside down out the window to watch the birds fly by while the clouds lazily float across the clear blue sky.

"Sometimes I envy Shikamaru...being so lazy must be nice," she commented softly to herself, being brought from her thoughts as she hears the shower turn on. "Guess I better get up and get some breakfast cooked before he heads out," she mutters as she slips out of the bed, the cool air causing goose bumps to creep all across her skin.

She stretches her whole body out, standing on her tip toes, arms out wide and her tails extended out to their limit before she walks into the closet. Slipping on a black lace bra and panties, then pulls on a simple long flowing black dress that reaches down to the tops of her knees and walks out. In passing her desk, one of her tails quickly grabs the brush sitting near the edge and she starts to brush her hair while walking with her tail.

As she opens the door and walks out, she is immediately greeted by all the noises of the morning, the birds chirping in the garden and the hustle and bustle of Konoha as it gets ready for the day. She steps down into the garden and smiles as the birds fly off while looking around at all the different plants and flowers that they have stocked their garden with, all the different colors and hues blending together to create a canvas of beauty.

As she reaches the end of the garden she steps up and walks into the living room, the room was rather large. To the immediate right were stairs leading up to the second story, in the middle of living room was a large cherry wood table, big enough to sit ten people, with several plants spread across the length at the middle that served as the dining table.

The kitchen claimed the right portion of the whole room with a bar separating it from the rest of the room with a few chairs seated at the bar close to the dining table. On the left wall in the middle was a large black sofa with a window on either side, in the front and back left corner of the room was a large pot with several bamboo chutes growing to give the room some color.

In the kitchen all of the appliances were stainless steel including some of the other necessities, the counters and the bar were both made of a dark wood. The fridge was against the right wall next to the stairs, going left there was a gap for counter space and then the sink, followed by another gap and then the stove over against the left wall. Hinata walks into the kitchen and searches through some cabinets by the stove and quickly finds the pan she needs to start cooking.

After finishing his shower and quickly toweling himself off, Naruto walks out of the bathroom straight into the closet to get his own outfit. He slipped on a pair of tan cargo pants, pulled on a simple white shirt with red flames at the arms and the Konoha crest on the chest before putting on a black, long sleeved turtleneck sweater with a zipper up the middle. On the back was a red Kyūbi with all nine tails spiraling into one to create the Uzumaki crest. Forgetting something, he smiles as he reaches for his black hitai-ate . As he puts it on his head, he walks towards the door as he glances at the clock, 8:23. "Plenty of time," he mutters to himself.

As he walks outside he is greeted by the smell of food, which makes his stomach growl loudly. "Oh hush, you're always hungry," he grumbles to his own stomach, picking up the pace to the kitchen.

Once he enters, he discovers the enchanting sight of Hinata gracefully dancing around in the kitchen as she cooks. Between using her hands and her tails in unison to get everything perfect, he can't help but watch, walking over to the wall cutting the stairs off from the rest of the room and casually leans against it while enjoying the view.

Aware that she is being watched, she quickly finishes cooking and carries the two plates to the table, "I hope you're hungry", she happily comments as she sets a mountain of eggs in front of Naruto's usual spot, setting her own plate next to his with far less food on it.

"Kami, Hinata, I can't eat all that!" he exclaims looking at the plate food.

She scoffs at the notion, "This coming from the man who can wolf down 8 bowls of ramen in one go and he can't eat 4 scrambled eggs".

Naruto knowing he isn't going to win the battle, simply sits down next to his wife and begins to eat. "This is delicious Hun, thank you very much," he manages between bites, smiling.

She smiles while watching him eat "I'm glad you like it," wrapping her tails around some of his while he does the same as they enjoy their meal.

As they finish, she grabs their plates and walks into the kitchen while he walks to the front door, putting on his sandals and grabbing his Hokage coat. Much like his father's, the coat was orange reaching down to his knees with black flames along the bottom and arms, on the back in red kanji were the letters '六代目火影' (Rokudaime), he wraps his tails around his waist to make it more comfortable. "I'll see you later Hinata, I love you," he informs her as he looks back at her from the door way.

"I love you too," she smiles as their eyes connect, he smiles back, turns and leave the house.

After following the pathway leading from his complex towards the front gate, he walks out the gate and is stopped when he hears a familiar voice.

"You know, the orange was annoying when we younger and still you have to wear orange now don't you, dobe". Naruto stops in his tracks and looks over at the man casually leaned against the wall.

His black hair spiked out and reaching down to his shoulders, his outfit was all black from head to toe. He wore loose fitting black pants with a simple black shirt, showing out the bottom of the shirt was part of a white undershirt, a black drench coat over all of it and on the back of both shirt and coat was the mark for clan Uchiha.

"Still a downer as always huh, Sasuke-teme," Naruto grinned at his long time rival and friend.

Sasuke gets off the wall and walks over to Naruto, "Someone has to be with your loud ass mouth and boundless energy," eyes closed as he stops. Standing next to Naruto, he opens his eyes and looks over at his friend. "What's with that look?" he asks, his eyebrow lifts ever so slightly.

Naruto chuckles to himself as he starts to walk, Sasuke in step with him. "Oh nothing, just find it funny that after everything we've been through, you always have to try and be so cool," he replies casually to the Uchiha. The comment brings a slight smile to Sasuke's lips as they walk through the village towards the Hokage tower.

The two men were greeted by nearly every villager and shinobi on their way through the village, everyone happy to see the Hokage, though tempered at the sight of the head of the Anbu Corps. and head of Clan Uchiha walking next to him.

The difference between now and back all those years was night and day. As a child, Naruto was shunned by nearly everyone, now everyone wanted to speak to him. He mentally laughed at the irony until they happened to walk by a little bar and heard a woman shouting, a voice that he knew all too well.

"If I want another damn bottle of saki, who the hell are you to stop me?!", the woman, obviously annoyed, yelled loudly. A man's voice, another one that the blonde recognized, having traveled with the man for several years, tried to calm the angry woman. "All I'm saying is that it's still early in the morning and I think you've had a bit much already".

Naruto, unable to stop himself, looks at Sasuke, grins and then walks into the bar and quickly finds the two people that he hasn't seen in a few weeks, "Ero-Sennin! Baa-chan!" he yells loudly.

Both of the sannin had veins pop up the side of their heads at being called in such a way, they both snap at the same time at the young man. "QUIT CALLING ME THAT!" they yelled at the grinning Naruto.

Unable to contain it any longer, he started to laugh at the top of his lungs, his laughter bringing both the sages out of their rage. "Naruto! Just because your Hokage now doesn't mean I still won't knock the shit out of you!" Tsunade yelled at the blonde while at the same time Jiraiya smiles at his former student. "Hey kid! How's it going?"

Naruto wipes the tears as he looks at two people who were the closest thing he ever had to a mother and father. "Oh you know, just running a village while my two advisers have been enjoying themselves without telling me when they decided to come back..." he stops that train of thought as the implications hit him, "So how was the honeymoon?" he asks.

Jiraiya sighs, "It was good all in all, but she wouldn't let me do any of my research…" he is suddenly smacked upside the head. Tsunade's eye starts to twitch.

"That's because you're supposed to be ogling your wife, not every other woman you baka and don't you dare think of adding me into one of your books," hoping that her husband gets the message, she looks back at Naruto. "Sorry, we decided to extend it a little, besides, you had Sakura and everyone else, it shouldn't have been too bad, especially for you," an all knowing smile creeping across her face.

"It really wasn't, I just like to give you guys shit…" he's stopped as Sasuke walks in.

"You do realize that if you keep up like this you're going to hear it from the councilors about being late," Sasuke reminded him.

Naruto's face blanked, "Sorry guys gotta run!", he bursts out of the bar and starts running down the street on all fours, his tails flowing out behind him.

Sasuke shakes his head as he looks at the two sannin and slightly bows, "Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama," then heads out to catch up with the running Naruto.

As Naruto rushes down the street, all most people see is a orange blur before being assaulted by the resulting dust cloud picked up by his haste, some shinobi seeing the ruckus just smile to themselves knowing it's just Naruto being Naruto.

After reaching the tower, he slows down to stand upright and resumes walking at a brisk pace up the stairs. Izumo and Kotetsu happened to be walking down and noticed the Hokage climbing up, they both shift to the side and greet the Hokage as he walks by, Naruto manages a curt nod while passing by, both ninja smile as they look at him knowing full well he is late.

Naruto enters the building and walks to his office hoping for no other distractions, but as he gets closer he sees another comrade leaning against the wall next to the door. He's dressed up in the regular Jounin outfit, instead of blue pants and long sleeved shirt, they were black and a green vest, zipped closed up the middle with several pockets on either side of the zipper, his black hair tied up into a spiky pony tail.

Focused on his goal, he manages a statement as he passes Shikamaru by. " I know, I'm late, lets go," he opens the door, grabs his hat from the rack next to the door and heads back down the stairs, Shikamaru on his heels.

Shikamaru sighs as he walks behind the blonde, "Why are you always late Naruto? You're the Hokage now, you're suppo-" he catches himself before walking into Naruto, who suddenly stopped upon hearing the comment.

He quickly turns around and looks at Shikamaru and points up, "Blame him". Shikamaru lifts an eyebrow and both men look up to see one Kakashi Hatake reading 'Icha Icha Paradise'.

Kakashi lowers his book and looks down at the men, "Sorry, were you saying something?"

Naruto smiles at his former teacher while Shikamaru merely shake his head. Naruto turns and closes the distance to the council room with Shikamaru in tow. "You ready for the fun to begin?" he grins causing Shikamaru to smirk slightly.

"You do realize you're going to get an earful from the council right?" Shikamaru questions, lifting an eyebrow. Naruto turns and puts on his hat.

"Yea, but they should expect it by now," he stated as he reached for the doors.

"Just make sure I'm not standing next to you, you know how Ino and Sakura get," Shikamaru, taking his own advice, wisely took a step back.

"Nope!" he yelled loudly as he pushed the doors open and walked inside.

Hinata decided to take a little stroll around the village to relax before going shopping. Naruto tended to eat a lot and it was sometimes hard to keep the house stocked. She smiled to herself as images of his handsome face crossed through her mind, sending her tails to slightly wave back and forth behind her with her mood.

Noises of children and the voice of Iruka drawing her out of her day dreaming as she happened to be passing the school, she stopped and stood there, watching the children being told to practice their shuriken throwing. As she watched, she started to remember the time when Naruto asked her to train together before the Chuunin exam 10 years ago….

* * *

10 years ago…

Hinata awoke to the sound of her alarm going off, at first she couldn't recall why it was going off, she couldn't remember having to do anything. Suddenly it hit her, "Naruto-kun," she mumbled to herself as she turned the clock off.

She yawned and stretched before she got out of her bed, a slight spring in her step at the thought of spending a whole day with her long time crush. She took a quick shower, knowing full well that she would be getting dirty, but this was Naruto we're talking about, he deserved the best.

She quickly put on her clothes, blue pants that slightly hugged her legs and stopping just below her knees, a fishnet undershirt and a black shirt over top of it, she also pulled on her tan jacket and started to head towards the training ground until she was stopped by her father, Hiashi Hyūga.

"Hinata, where are you going this early?" he questioned, his eyes scrutinizing her every movement.

She turned and bowed to her father, "I'm going to meet up with a former classmate, we're just going to spend the day together," she replied softly, not telling him the whole truth and hoping that he wouldn't inquire further.

After several tense moments, he turned and started to walk away, commenting before he left, "Be home before dark, we will begin a light practice tomorrow morning, so be ready".

Hinata's heart sank slightly, but wouldn't dare defying her father. "Yes Otou-san," she turned and left, not realizing that another pair of eyes were watching her from a distance the whole way to the training grounds.

Naruto had already arrived before Hinata by the time she showed up, he was just finishing his stretches when he saw her, "Good morning Hinata," his characteristic smile on his face.

She couldn't help but blush a little and smiled slightly, "Good morning," she managed to reply.

"You ready?" he questioned, wanting to start as soon as possible, she nodded and got into her Juuken stance and stood at the ready. Naruto backed off and admired the determination in her eyes as she activated her Byakugan. He quickly formed seals, "**Kage bunshin no jutsu!**" he yelled, suddenly cloud of smoke appeared, then there were 6 Naruto clones.

"Alright Hinata, here we come!"

* * *

A/N: Sorry this one took a little longer than the other two. Just kind of going with my gut at this point, 600 views, 13 followers, 8 favorites and 1 review, the other numbers are fine with me, the 1 review is kind of depressing, was hoping for more : /. But, such is life, I hope I get more as the days go by, haven't even started Ch. 4 but I have a pretty good idea of where I'm going with it. I hope you enjoyed the read and come back when I have the next chapter done. Btw, REVIEW PLEASE! Or message me your opinion, I'm usually always available and every little bit will help. Thank you!


	4. Enlightened Exchanges

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Naruto.**

**A/N: Hello everyone and thank you for reading up to this point. As stated back in chapter 1, I've gone back and changed some details around and added onto others to try and make this story better. I am not against going back and changing things, but as it stands now, I think it stands up better than it did before, but there is always room for improvement and you my readers need to bring that stuff to my attention. Either there isn't enough written for you to get a visual picture of what I'm aiming for or a sentence has fuck ups, please bring it to my attention. I can't get any better without help from you. With that being said, please enjoy Chapter 4 of Naruto Namikaze, The Kitsune Hokage. : ) Will say this thought, 1000 views in 4 days, 14 followers, 8 favs, want those numbers to keep going up!**

**Special thanks to Sadstoryteller and leafninja .com, helped me out a lot.**

* * *

"You ready Hinata?" he eagerly questioned, his whole body trembling from excitement. Hinata nodded and slid into the Jūken stance, eyes closed.

"_**Byakugan**_**,**" the veins around Hinata's eyes pulsed out as she opened her now activated kekkei genkai, a fiery look of determination set on her face. Naruto did not miss the sudden change in the normally shy girl.

'This is going to be great!' he quickly formed the seals required for his jutsu, "**Kage bunshin no jutsu**!" he yelled. There was a large cloud of smoke that appeared as Naruto pulled off the jutsu. As the smoke dissipated, where once there was only one, now stood seven Naruto's all combat ready.

"Here we come Hinata!" they yelled in unison while running around the Hyuuga girl, forming a hexagon around her.

"_The '__**Kage bunshin**__' distributes his chakra evenly, so it's hard for me to tell which is the real one...there must be some way to tell them apart,_" she thought. Her eyes glancing around at the four Naruto's she could her eyes could visually see, while keeping notes of the other three using her enhanced sight with the Byakugan.

'_The real one must be standing in the back...not wanting to suffer the effects of the Jūken,_' her eyes fixed upon the lone Naruto.

A fair enough distance away so that neither teens could see or sense him, Neji Hyuuga was watching their practice fight with his own Byakugan activated.

* * *

'_So, Hinata-sama has decided to help that failure for his fight with me,_' the Hyūga genius scoffed at such an absurd notion. '_Won't do him any good, she is no where near my caliber..._' he saw two of the clones move in from Hinata's back. '_Let's see how the main branch handles this...'_

* * *

Hinata made no indication of seeing the clones directly to her back and back left closing the distance to her, she stood like a rock in the Juuken stance, waiting for the last possible second. She side stepped the thrown fist of the first clone, spinning as she did and hit him in the chest. As the first clone went up in smoke, she saw the second clone sliding at her legs, her eyes detecting that the other four clones were moving now that she was distracted.

Swinging her leading leg in an arc behind her, she side-stepped the sliding clone, turning as she did to meet the oncoming threat. Two clones were forced to jump over the one sliding at them, leaving the two on the sides unaffected as they charged in, fists raised. Hinata stepped closer to the one on her left, deflecting the fist coming at her with her left hand while bringing her right hand across for a strike.

As the clone erupted in a cloud of smoke, sliding her leading foot across in an arc as she spun again to meet the other clone, ducking under the extended arm and striking the clone twice in the side. As that clone went up in smoke, the two that had jumped over the sliding clone had just touched the ground as Hinata stepped over to them, slamming her palms into their chests.

Just as the last clone was picking himself up off the ground, he got two strikes to the back, leaving just Hinata and the real Naruto. Naruto was stunned, in the span of seconds, she downed six clones without having taken a single hit, he was impressed with her capabilities. A characteristic grin creeping across his face, "Alright Hinata, time to get serious! '**Kage bunshin no jutsu**'!".

Hinata's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates upon seeing near to fifty Naruto's surrounding her. '_I had no idea he could conjure up so many clones..._' regaining her composure, with her Byakugan, she kept a mental note of where the 'real' Naruto had been when using the jutsu. Taking a deep breath, she slid back into the Jūken stance; preparing herself for whatever was to come next.

"Go get her boys!" Naruto yelled, all fifty clones shouting as they rushed the lone Hinata in the stampede of orange. Hinata stepped forward into the oncoming swarm and stuck first, blocking the foot of a clone with her left hand and striking him in the shoulder with her right. No sooner was she done, she ducked under the fist of another clone, instead of taking the opening, she pushed forward, hitting every clone that got in her way while ducking, dodging, deflecting or blocking every possible attack that came at her.

A fist came at her back, she dodged at the last second to have the clone punch another Naruto, giving her the opportunity to take out another clone. She saw she was nearing the end of clones and pushed forward harder, blocking another foot with her right, spinning past him and striking him with her left. Finishing the spin she instantly leaned back as two clones punched at where she should have been, instead punching each other. As she righted herself, she was forced to deflect another hand with her left, striking with her right.

As the last clone went up in smoke, she saw her opening. Rushing forward, two clones tried to bar her way, fists rushing to meet her. She brought her hands together, as the fists came closer, she raised her hands up between the two arms and pushed out against them, forcing the arms to go out wide and miss. With the two clones overbalanced, she raised her hands up and then back down to slam into their backs, leaving nothing standing between her and the lone Naruto.

She ran forward, closing the gap as Naruto tried to bring his arms up defensively, but was far too slow. '_I have you!_' she cried mentally as her right hand shot forward and struck his shoulder, doing her best to not hit anything vital. He grimaced in pain as several clones went up in smoke, however, he soon started to smile and uttered a simple statement, "Got ya". Suddenly, 'Naruto' went up in a puff of smoke, Hinata stood stunned at what just happened, oblivious to what was happening in the pile of Naruto clones.

Naruto stepped onto the back of one clone bringing him above the others with his arms being grabbed by a clone on each side, curling his legs as another clone pressed his hands to Naruto's feet. "**Uzumaki Bunshin Taiatari!**", surging chakra into his feet, the two clones at his arms started to throw him forward as he pushed off with his feet, using his body as a torpedo, flying directly at the unsuspecting Hyuuga.

Upon hearing the blonde, Hinata managed to turn around to see him closing the distance rapidly, arms at his sides. He was going far too fast for her to dodge or duck in the short amount of time it took for the human bullet to close the distance, his arms shooting forward as they neared in an attempt to grab her. Hinata started to bring her right hand up as he wrapped his arms around her, the sudden impact jolting her body and forcing the air from her lungs and her aim off as her hand forced chakra into Naruto's stomach, unknowingly right on top of the seal the blonde had containing the Kyūbi no Kitsune.

Naruto groaned from the pain, but managed to spin slightly as they neared the ground. Holding Hinata tightly to him as they collided with the ground, his back leaving a long trail in the dirt as the couple went sliding. Naruto's clones went up in smoke as the two gradually slid to a halt, neither one making any attempt to move.

"Are...you okay Hinata?" he questioned, concern mixed with pain evident in his voice. Hinata kept her face buried into the blonde's chest, unable to pull herself away from his intoxicating aroma of earth, sweat and ramen, for the strangest reason, she loved the smell. Naruto raised his voice a little as he asked about her condition again, which bumped Hinata out of the clouds and back to immediate concerns.

Looking up at the blonde with a light blush on her face, "I-I'm fine Naruto-kun...are you alright?" worried about his own condition since he took the brunt of the damage.

Naruto put on his best grin, "Yea...you got me good though, that kinda hurt." There was a long silence as the two gazed deep into each others eyes, both enjoying being in the others arms. Neither one realizing that they were laying in a position many would consider very...intimate.

Before the couple could enjoy themselves any longer, Naruto groaned again from the pain in gut, bringing both teens out of their day dreams to realize that Hinata was lying atop of Naruto. Also realizing that their faces were inches apart, both turning blood red as they quickly scrambled apart and both stared at the ground in front of them.

'_W-why does it feel like I have butterflies in my stomach? Do...do I like her?_' he stole several glances at her, finding that she was doing the same. '_I keep getting this feeling every time I look or think about her..._'

Both ninja sat, continuing to steal glances at one another from time to time until Naruto gained the courage to take the next step. "Hinata...I...have a question," he nervously asked.

"Y-yes Naruto-kun?"

"Do...do you like me?"

The question hit Hinata like a ton of bricks, she had just been asked the one question she had never dared to ask her crush in whole entire young life. There was a long awkward silence as Naruto patiently waited for an answer, Hinata pulled herself together to try to make the words come together that she always wanted to say.

"Well Naruto-kun…for the longest time I've always watched you from a distance…I-I always wanted to be like you after you r-rescued me from those boys when I was younger…" she softly told him. Naruto turned and lifted an eyebrow while looking at her.

"I rescued you from some boys?" he questioned while scratching the side of his head as he tried to think back of all the times he had ever seen Hinata. After a lot of thought, he gave up, "I don't remember ever doing that," he informed her.

She nodded slightly as she looked at the ground in front of her. "It was a long time ago…b-but ever since that day I wanted to be like you…I always admired your strength from afar…when you had no one to support you. You kept trying…you always pushed yourself to go further no matter what…y-you were the complete opposite of myself…and…" She gulped as she got to the point of saying the words she always wanted to say. "I've always l-liked you as a person…b-but, I really do…", her voice cut out as she barely whispered "I love you…" she blushed red as she finally spoke from her heart.

Naruto barely heard it, but he did, those three little words that he had never heard his whole entire life. He felt the most profound happiness that someone that out of the whole village, no, the entire world loved him. He couldn't hold it in anymore as he turned and hugged Hinata unexpectedly causing her to squeak in surprise. The dams broke as Naruto started to cry, Hinata not knowing what to do, slowly hugged him back as he let the emotions wash over him.

They sat there hugging for a few minutes before he was able to compose himself, wiping his face on his sleeve before he looked at Hinata.

"Thank you for being honest with me…and I like you too, but I just...don't know you well enough to return the feelings you have for me back to you," he spoke softly, a drastic difference for the loud mouth blonde. Hinata's heart sank at hearing his words, she started to tear up until she ran his sentence several times through her head, a ray of light shining in her suddenly dark world.

"Does that mean…that you may come to love me if you knew me better?" She asked, hopeful of the answer as she looked at him. Naruto looked back and nodded at her, she squeaked as she threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. He yelled as he fell back in surprise at the change in the shy girl as she held him tight and a smile inched across his face as he enjoyed her soft body pressed against his.

He suddenly cringed as the pain came again from his gut, feeling him cringe, she looked up at him worried.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?"

He waved it off, "It's nothing Hinata, I wasn't expecting a poke like that to hurt so much, but it really does hurt." He chuckled lightly until he saw Hinata move off of him and activate her Byakugan to take a closer look.

"I don't see anything wrong with your chakra network, I missed the tenketsu, did I hit a sensitive area?" She asked, still a little worried.

"Not that I am aware of, really though Hinata, I'm fine," he said, trying to reassure her as he started to stand up. Coughing several times and stretching out, he was fine as far as he was aware, extending her a hand which she gladly accepted as he helped to lift her up.

She smiled as he helped her to her feet and looked at him. Her face changed suddenly as she felt nauseous and started to cough, bringing a hand to her chest.

"Hinata! Are you alright?" he put a hand on her back and offered his other hand for support, which she gladly took.

Just as suddenly as the coughing fit started, it stopped. "No..I'm fine, I'm just a little worn out...and I haven't fully recovered from my fight with Nej-" she was cut off as she abruptly began coughing again, blood spewed from her mouth, the crimson a bright contrast to the green grass.

"Hinata, I'm taking you to the hospital, right now," he told her with a finality to his voice, leaving no room for debate. Gently, he scooped her up bridal style and charged off towards the village with Hinata blushing red at being carried by her long time crush. She closed her eyes and leaned slightly into his chest, '_Dreams do come true..._' smiling happily as she was carried off to the hospital.

Neither one realizing the damage that was unknowingly caused by Hinata's jab to Naruto's stomach...

* * *

Neji sat alone in the woods after Naruto and Hinata departed, replaying their fight several times, filing away every little bit of information he could away for later. '_He purposefully stayed back the first time to give the appearance of being cautious. Then the second time, he mixed himself with the clones, leaving one out, making Hinata-sama assume that the real one was once again out of the battle._' A faint smile formed on the corner of his lips. '_He's a crafty one, too bad she is no where near my level, he won't be so lucky against me._'

* * *

Naruto stayed with Hinata during her short stay in the hospital, then took her home once she was released, the two talked and enjoyed each others company the whole way there. Hinata had informed Naruto about her training with her father so he offered her to come by his apartment when she was finished, which she happily accepted.

As the days went by, Hinata and Naruto's friendship blossomed. She became more comfortable being around her long time crush, while Naruto would talk and get to know his newest friend between their training sessions.

Naruto was surprised at how easy it was for him to open up to the Hyūga heiress, she was always so accepting and would listen to every word he had to say and enjoyed hearing his voice. As for Hinata, she was simply happy to be in his company and get closer to him in a way she never thought was going to be possible for the shy girl. Being around the loud ninja for so long slowly began to change her, she was a little more confident with herself and her usual stutter was gradually disappearing whenever she was around him.

Neither one realizing that they were being watched by one, Neji Hyūga, whenever he had the time, carefully observing their training sessions while also keeping an eye on his charge, Hinata.

Before they both knew it, the day of the Chuunin exams was upon them. They met at Team 7's training ground as usual, except this time, it wasn't to train.

The two were walking next to each other in silence as the fireworks started to go off announcing that the exam was to start shortly. Naruto looked over at the girl and smiled, "Well, I guess I have to go fight Neji, I'm a little worried though," his voice dropping a little bit at the realization that he will be fighting the Hyūga genius soon.

Hinata smiled and looked at him, "I know you can beat him, just remember all the practice we did, besides, I'll be cheering you on the whole time," trying her best to comfort him.

The blonde put on his characteristic grin while scratching the back of his head. "Hehe, I guess your right Hinata," he bashfully replied. "Well I better head out before I'm late for my own match," he turned and began to walk off towards the stadium. Suddenly, he stopped, confusing Hinata as he turned and walked back to her and did something she never expected him to do. Leaning close to her, he planted a soft kiss on her cheek, catching her completely off guard as he turned and ran off in his original direction.

"Wish me luck!" the blonde yelled back to the stunned Hyūga who leaned against one of the posts for much needed support while watching Naruto vanish into the distance.

"Hey Hinata, there you are!" yelled Kiba coming from the opposite direction Naruto had just run off in. Kiba walked a little in front of the girl as she kept staring in Naruto's direction, a blush still on her face and she wasn't blinking. Kiba looked at her, then looked off in the direction she was staring and then back at her, confused.

* * *

Naruto was greeted by the gate attendants who ushered him into the stadium. Walking down the tunnel, he thought of all the people he might fight: Shikamaru, Shino, the Oto ninja, the three Suna ninja and of course….Sasuke Uchiha, 'I'm gonna win, no matter what' he grimly resolved. He squinted his eyes as he came out into the light and saw all the contestants standing in a line with the proctor.

"Hey Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted, causing everyone else to turn towards the blonde now running towards them.

"Geez Naruto, why are you always so loud?" the lazy shinobi questioned, annoyed, as Naruto got closer. Naruto looked around at each contestant to notice that one was missing, one that he wanted to fight above all else to prove himself.

"Hey! Where the hell is Sasuke?" exclaimed the blonde, right into Shikamaru's unfortunate ear. The lazy teen promptly brought a finger up to close his ear from further assault.

"Seriously, do I look like his keeper and why do you have to yell right in my ear? It's such a drag. Besides, that Dosu guy I'm supposed to fight isn't here either," Shikamaru casually responded.

The proctor, Genma, turned to the two genin, "Shut up you two, stand up straight and look at the crowd, you guys are the main attraction in the upcoming match," he instructed. Naruto looked up at the crowd as they started to cheer loudly, a look of determination suddenly taking to Naruto's face as he knew everyone was watching him.

Gradually the noise from the crowd died down, while the combatant's gazed up at the Hokage, who was now addressing the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to the Konohagakure no Sato Chuunin Selection Exam today. We will now begin the main match with the eight that have passed the preliminaries. Please enjoy the matches." The Hokage said to the crowd, his voice echoing through the entire stadium. The crowd went wild after his speech, cheers roaring from every side as Genma turned towards the seven to inform them of the rules.

"There are some things I need to tell you before the matches," he informed them, reaching into his vest to pull out a folded piece of paper, he unfolded it and showed it to them, "Look at this". The paper was a new roster of who was fighting who, the only change was Shikamaru would fight Temari inside of Dosu. "There was a little change in the match-ups, check to confirm who you're going up against."

Naruto felt uneasy upon seeing that Sasuke, his friend and rival, was to fight after him. "Sasuke isn't here yet… what will happen if he doesn't arrive?" he hesitantly asked.

Genma casually responded, "If he doesn't arrive before the time of his match, he will lose by default."

Naruto gulped as he turned and looked at the entrance leading to the stadium, '___Where the hell are you Sasuke__?_'

Genma's voice brought Naruto out of his thoughts and turned him back toward the proctor. "Listen up, although the landscape is different, the same rules apply as in the preliminaries; there are no rules. The match will only end when someone dies, or gives up. But, if I decide that the match is over, I will stop the match, do not argue with me over it, got it?" he looked over at each combatant to make sure they understood.

"The first match is… Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga, the rest of you head up to the waiting room," he ordered.

As the other 5 shinobi started walking towards the stairs leading up to the waiting room, Naruto and Neji glared at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

* * *

Up in the stands Kiba and Hinata had just arrived and found their seats, "I can't wait to see this match," Kiba said excitedly.

Hinata smiled as she looked down on her crush and her cousin, '___Naruto-kun, you can win, I believe in you__'._

The two Chuunin next to Hinata, Izumo and Kotetsu were commenting on the fight. "I can't believe that kid made it this far," Kotetsu said to his partner. Hinata hearing that they were referring to Naruto listened in on their conversation.

"Yea, but someone who made it this far with luck alone won't get any further, that Naruto kid that is," Izumo replied. Hinata started to tremble at hearing them bad mouth the blonde as she balled her hands up in anger.

"He has a bad opponent, he can't beat a person from the Hyūga clan," Kotetsu remaked. Hinata looked down again at Naruto in the stadium.

'_He already has beaten a Hyūga and he will do it again…you don't know what he is capable of…_' Reflexively bringing a hand up to her chest, she clenched it tightly until she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to look at a smiling Kiba.

"Don't worry, I thought the same thing at first, but they will be surprised if they underestimate him, right Hinata?", he grinned. His words calming her as she nods, smiles and turns to watch the match.

* * *

Naruto and Neji stood across from each other and stared one another down, Neji was the one to break the silence, "You look like you want to say something," a smug look on his face. Naruto pumped out his fist and held it in the air towards the Hyuuga.

"I said it before… I will win!" he yelled, sure of his victory and full of determination. Neji closed his eyes and activated his Byakugan, looking at his opponent.

___'He is confident in himself, there is no hesitation at all, but neither is he aware I've see him training with Hinata-sama. He will lose this match, a failure is always a failure, no matter how hard you try,__' the Hyuuga genius thought to himself while staring the blonde down._

Neji gradually fell into the Jūken stance, "I will enjoy seeing the look in your discouraged eyes when the true reality sets in, you can't beat me," he sneered at Naruto, who still kept his arm out, a fierce look of determination etched on his face.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry to end it like this, and for those of you who I know are going to say it, yes the stadium scene and most of it was directly taken from the anime with some of my own additions, I'm entangling the actual show with my story and the stadium scene was already set up so I just added it in, hate me for it, love me for it, w/e. The fight scenes however will be far different, I assure you. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will be writing the next too, don't forget to review or message me and I'll post the next chapter when I can. Have my 22nd Birthday coming up here June 10th, so it may be a little bit before the next chapter, I may write it up before that though it the mood hits me and I have the time.**


	5. Sealed Secrets

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Naruto.**

**A/N: Thank you all for reading, I have to say that this chapter was probably the most pain in the ass and the most fun chapter I've written so far. I will most likely not be writing for a little bit, gotta celebrate my 22nd b-day after all. I hope you all enjoy the chapter and if you have anything to point out, don't be afraid to review or hit me up with a PM.**

**Special thanks to Sadstoryteller, SliceNDicer8 and Leafninja .com!**

* * *

The two combatants stared one another down. Genma glanced back and forth to check one last time to see if they were ready before announcing, "Let the first match…begin!" The crowd erupted in cheer, gradually growing deathly silent, neither Neji nor Naruto moved an inch, each sizing the other up.

Bursting into action, Naruto quickly reached back to his pouch and retrieved three kunai.. He swung his arm in an arc in front of him, letting go of one kunai halfway through, repeating the process in the opposite direction to release a second kunai and once more for the third. As the last kunai left his had, he quickly formed the seal for the '**Kage Bunshin no jutsu**', conjuring up four clones.

Neji activated his Byakugan, his keen eyes tracking the speed and the location of each kunai, his body reacted to the incoming threat. He deflected the first kunai with the side of his hand, grabbed the second with his right hand and stopped the third with the handle of the second. As now five Naruto's were charging at him, Neji smugly smiled as he reached up to grab the third kunai with his free left hand and threw both kunai at the clones at the edge of the five. As the kunai impacted, the clones went up in a cloud of smoke. The real Naruto held back as his remaining two clones ran forward, one bringing a foot up to kick Neji and the other had jumped with a fist thrown forward.

Neji ducked and dipped his shoulder as the fist flew over him, quickly standing up to throw the clone over his shoulder with it's own momentum, while catching the other clones foot with his left hand. Grabbing the foot with both hands, Neji quickly turned and threw the clone towards the other, the two crashing together and disappearing in a cloud. The Hyūga genius slowly stood up from his crouched stance, turning to look at the blonde, "Face it, you lost this match as soon as you were pit against me."

"Shut your mouth! I'm gonna win no matter what!" Naruto growled. "**Kage Bunshin no jutsu!**" fifty clones of the blonde began to appear all around the field to completely surround the lone Hyūga.

Neji looked straight ahead while sliding into the Jūken stance, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to spot the real one out of the sea of clones and expecting the blonde to eventually show himself when he went to use his new clone technique. Standing his ground until the last second, clones from every side reached out with either a fist or a foot, only to meet air as the Hyūga genius stepped into the throng. Catching a fist with a left hand and a foot with his right, he kicks out with his right foot to connect with the face of an unfortunate clone.

As more limbs came at him from every direction, Neji quickly dropped to the ground and let the clones do the work for him as they kicked or punched each other. With the now free space given to him, Neji methodically went to work. Moving towards the nearest clone and stabbing it in the chest, then moving onto the next with a fist to the face, while kicking his left foot out to catch clone coming at his back. Clouds of smoke constantly popped up as Neji demolished them one by one.

While Neji was dealing with the mass of clones, his Byakugan detected movement to his back, knowing exactly what was about to happen. Naruto stepped up onto the back of a clone as three other clones moved into position, two grabbing his arms and one at his feet. The blonde pumped chakra into his feet and pushed off as the two at his arms threw him forward, creating a human bullet that was fast approaching the 'unsuspecting' Hyūga.

As Naruto zoomed closer and closer, Neji simply closed his eyes, smiled and waited. As Naruto was about to collide with Neji, he was stopped by a wall of chakra being pushing out from the Hyūga's body. Neji smirked, "**Kaiten**," he started to spin in place like a top, causing the dome of chakra to spin with him, as he continued to spin, the rotation of the dome picked up faster and faster. The increased momentum from the rotation began launching clones in all directions, the clones vanishing as they collided with each other or with the ground, the last being the real Naruto who was launched into the air, crashing onto the hard ground.

"Still you fight, knowing full well that you won't win. It's pathetic," he hatefully stated while watching the blonde slowly work his way back to his feet.

Naruto stared at his opponent, '_What the hell was that?_' he pondered, replaying what just happened in his head.

Neji slightly smiled upon seeing the confusion plastered all over his opponents face, "To answer your question, the '**Hakkeshou Kaiten**' allows me to stop any attack you can possibly throw at me, especially that worthless technique you managed to get Hinata-sama with. It seems all of your training was a waste," he remarked while standing at ease.

Naruto's eyes widened, '_He's been watching the whole time me and Hinata were training?!_' he shook his head to help snap himself out of his shock. "Even if you saw all of that, I'm still gonna win because I have to become Hokage!" he shouted angrily, forming the familiar seal once again. "**Kage bunshin no jutsu**," conjuring another 10 clones, all pulling kunai out while forming a circle around Neji.

"Hokage eh? You still believe that one can become Hokage on just hard work alone? A Hokage is chosen because that is their fate, they were destined to become Hokage, they were born to be the strongest." Neji looked at the Naruto in front of him, knowing it to be the real one as all 11 Naruto ran then jumped at him. "The only thing all people share...," Neji began to push chakra out of his tenketsu, "Is death".

Neji began to spin like a top, once again using the '**Kaiten**' to effectively stop Naruto's attack and leave the real Naruto vulnerable.

"You're in range of my divination," Neji grimly informed his opponent, slowly getting into the stance required. "This is the end, **Jūken Hō, Hakke Rokujūyonshou,**" his body slightly leaned forward with his left arm in front of him aimed down and his right arm aimed in the opposite direction aimed up, his front leg moved forward as he got ready to move.

Naruto slowly stood up as Neji burst into movement, charging towards him and catching the blonde by surprise. As Neji neared, he spun around and struck Naruto twice, hitting two tenketsu, "Ni Shou," Neji hit another four tenketsu, "Yon Shou," another eight, "Ha Shou," each hit closing more and more of Naruto's tenketsu.

"Jyū Roku Shou," Neji's arms were a blur as he hit Naruto each time, each blow jerking his body around, "San Jyū Ni Shou," Neji pulled back suddenly and then launched his hands forward together, "Roku Jyū Yon Shou," the last hit flinging the blonde back and effectively closing all of Naruto's major tenketsu.

Naruto was lying on his chest on the ground away from Neji, he tried to call for his body to move, but was unable to get any movement. '___Don't let Neji get close enough to close all of your tenketsu, if you do…the match will be over, you won't be able to stand nor perform any ninjutsu,__'_ Hinata's warning played in his head.

"Damn it…," Naruto groaned and slowly tilted his head as he watched Neji stand up-right. Neji stared Naruto down, "As I am sure Hinata-sama has already told you, you won't be able to stand up, much less use any ninjutsu, this match is over," he casually informed Naruto, who slowly looked down at the ground in front of him.

Just as he thought he was at his limit, images flashed through his mind, Sasuke defending him against Haku on their mission in the Land of Waves, Hinata rising back up during her fight with Neji, an unconscious Lee standing ready to fight Gaara after getting arm and leg seriously damaged.

_'____I can't give up…I'm not only fighting for myself, I'm fighting for Bushy Brow, for Sasuke…for Hinata,__'_ he willed himself to slowly prop himself up on his arms and legs, pushing off with his hands to stand up, slightly leaned over as he looked at the astonished face on his opponent.

"I told you…I don't give up that easily…," Naruto slightly grimaced from the pain as he slowly glanced up and found Hinata in the stands and looked at her.

* * *

Hinata saw Naruto look in her direction and felt his gaze fall directly onto her, she squeezed her hand against her chest, "You can do it Naruto-kun," she spoke softly, "I believe in you".

* * *

"Stop fighting, I have no grudge against you, you can't honestly hope to win," Neji said matter-of-factly to Naruto which earned him a sharp "Shut up" from the blonde.

"You may not have a grudge against me…but I have one against you, for everything that you have done to Hinata. All she does is try her best and you mentally attack her and beat her down as if she was nothing, I don't care if it has something to do with the Hyūga clan branches, NO ONE has the right to do that to someone," his brow furrowed, anger starting to rise which was unknowingly backed by a much larger hate and rage that was locked deep within the blonde.

"You called both of us failure, and now, for the both of us, a failure is going to kick your ass!" he yelled, his hand clenched tightly, turning his knuckles a hot white.

"You have no business butting into the concerns of the Main and Branch families…,but since you seem so adamant about it and you have already lost, I will explain it all to you…" Neji began to take off his hitai-ate, revealing an X mark on his forehead. "The Hyūga has a secret ninjutsu that is passed on within the head family, that is the Juin Jutsu," he spat bitterly. "This cursed seal symbolizes a caged bird...and is also the symbol of those who are bound within an inescapable destiny."

Naruto looked in shock, seeing that his opponent was similar to him. Neji continued on, "When I was four, this detestable seal was carved into me. That day, there was a big ceremony going on in Konohagakure no Sato. It was also the day that the Kaminaru no Kuni, which had been at war with Konoha for a long time, the Kumogakure no Sato sent their head shinobi to conclude an alliance treaty."

"While at the event, where every ninja from the highest jounin to the lowest genin attended, there was one clan that did not participate...The Hyūga clan." Neji closed his eyes, recalling the memory vividly, "That day was the long awaited day then when the head family's successor, Hinata-sama, turned three. My father, Hizashi Hyūga and Hinata-sama's father, Hiashi Hyūga-sama, were twin brothers."

Neji's hand began to clench tightly in anger, "But, Hiashi Hyūga was born first, becoming a head family member, while my father, the second son, became a branch family member. When the head family successor became the age of three, I was engraved with the cursed seal, and became a caged bird...A branch family member. This cursed seal is the absolute fear of death that the head family gives to the branch family."

Neji opened his eyes as both Neji and Naruto stared at one another, "This secret seal that the head family forms easily destroys the branch family's brain cells, needless to say, killing is easy as well. This cursed seal will only disappear after my death...and it seals up the Byakugan ability." Neji stopped, letting the blonde absorb the information before pressing on once again, "One night, Hinata-sama was almost kidnapped by someone, Hiashi-sama caught the perpetrator immediately, and killed him. When he removed the mask that the kidnapper was wearing, he discovered that it was the Kaminaru no Kuni's head ninja, who had just signed the alliance treaty."

"It was apparent that they came here to seek the secrets of the Byakugan, but the Kaminaru no Kuni failed in their scheme and ended up with a dead ninja...They claimed that Konoha broke the treaty, and made an unfair demand. The Kaminari no Kuni wanted a Hyūga head family member with the Byakugan kekkei genkai, in other words, Hiashi-sama's dead body. Konoha agreed, war was averted...thanks to Hiashi Hyūga's double, who died to protect the head family...my father!" Neji yelled , his arm shaking from his tight grip on his hitai-ate.

"Death is the only way to escape from this detestable cursed seal...they were twins with almost the same strength, but when they were born first and second, their fates were sealed." Neji brought his hand up and looked at his hitai-ate with a sadness in his eyes, recalling memories of his father before looking up at the blonde before him. "Your fate was sealed the moment I was chosen to be your opponent," Neji began to put his hitai-ate back on.

"A guy like you could never understand what it's like to carry a seal that can never be removed! Give up this fight before you lose your life!" Neji snapped at the blonde.

Naruto was breathing heavily at this point as he looked Neji in the eye, a deep sadness evident in his blue orbs. "No, I understand perfectly what it's like, and you're about to find that out. You say that fate is destined and that we can't fight against it. Yet, Hinata is from the main family and fought you with everything she had because she wanted to change herself and become acknowledged by someone. You're from the branch family, you're suppose to protect her and yet you beat the hell out of her, you were trying to fight your fate weren't you?" Naruto asked, venom dripping with every word.

Neji took it all in and looked at his opponent, "It matters not, all your tenketsu are closed, you won't be able to use any chakra for awhile, this fight is hopeless for you". Genma stood between the two and glanced at Naruto who closed his eyes and was focused inward.

"This is pointless," Neji looked at Genma, "Stop the fight or I intend to kill him" Neji stated. Genma looked back at Neji as Naruto formed a seal, the movement catching Neji's attention, "You can't use your chakra, it's no use".

Naruto started to pull forward the Kyūbi's chakra, unbeknownst to everyone as Neji looked on. "Why do you fight your fate so hard?" He questioned, knowing full well that there was nothing that the blonde could do at this point.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at him, "Because….you called me a failure," suddenly there was a rush of wind, pebbles started to lift from the ground as red chakra started to flow around him. His wounds started to heal as more and more chakra leaked out swirling around and connecting to his body. Neji looked on in horror as he saw this red chakra flow through Naruto's body, resetting all of his tenketsu and then he saw it…the Kyūbi no Kitsune.

The crowd looked on in awe and fear, the older generation knowing well the implications of what they were seeing, while the younger generation looked on, confused at the sight before them and afraid of the unknown...until they all heard Naruto's screams echo throughout the arena.

Unbeknownst to him, when Hinata had hit Naruto in the stomach, she had weakened the seal, allowing more chakra than he was ever used to, to be released. The Kyūbi's chakra enveloped Naruto, slowly forming outline of the fox, -the Kyūbi Cloak-, chakra bubbling as it surrounded him and slowly sprouted a tail.

Neji and the crowd could only look on as they felt the murderous intent of the Kyūbi no Kitsune, the anger, the hatred…the blood lust. Naruto's features changed due to all of this chakra leaking out of his body, his canines became sharper, his hair more wild and untamed, his normal blue eyes became slited and blood red, his whiskers and nails became longer and sharper, giving him a much more feral look.

Naruto was gripping his head in agony as the Kyūbi no Kitsune was trying to force himself more and more out of his host, to try and fully take over. "******Give yourself to me, let me kill them all! You know you want them to pay for all that you've suffered, give in to my rage!**" the fox demanded, his voice echoing throughout Naruto's mind.

_'____Like hell I will you damn fur ball, I don't want to kill them, I want them to acknowledge me, so…leave…ME….ALONE!__' _Naruto thought with such force, silencing the Kyūbi as the seal kicked in to subdue the great beast. As the pain subsided, Naruto set his murderous gaze upon Neji, who was finding it hard to breathe. This kid, no, this creature, was the most horrifying and awe inspiring sight he had ever seen. The raw power of the Kyūbi no Kitsune left it's impression on everyone, especially a terrified Hinata as she watched everything.

* * *

_'____T-that's…Naruto-kun….__'_ her thoughts were spinning out of control as everything started to make sense about the blonde, why everyone hated him, why he was such an outcast, why he always tried so hard to be recognized as a person and not as this…monster that stood in front of everyone. She started to hyperventilate from everything that was going on around her and in her mind.

And yet…she still loved him, he was still the same Naruto she cared for so deeply, she wanted to be there with him more now than ever now that she understood why he was treated the way he was. She was on the verge of passing out when she felt a hand grasp her shoulder, bringing her out of her thoughts, she turned to look at Kiba, who had a very grim look to him.

"Hinata, I don't know what the hell is going on, but if you care about Naruto, you better not pass out, that's still him down there and I think he needs your support now more than ever" he told her, his gaze shifting back towards the battle, Hinata looked back as well just in time to see Naruto look up at her, she still felt the care, the love that he felt towards here and underneath it all was a unnatural blood lust, a desire to cause pain.

She steeled her gaze and looked on, hoping that everything would be alright in the end.

* * *

Naruto saw the fear in Hinata's eyes, he knew he would, he was a monster, he contained this great beast inside of him that everyone else saw him to be and they were right…but he also saw the love she had for him, that love would never go away he was now sure of it. He turned and set his sights on Neji, "This fight…is over" he stated and vanished.

Neji stared wide eyed in shock as Naruto disappeared, if not for his Byakugan, he would have never been able to dodge the attack as Naruto appeared up behind him, swinging for the Hyūga's head. Neji ducked and stepped away, trying to put as much room between him and the enraged Naruto as he possibly could, Genma also wisely got a safe distance from the two.

As Naruto missed, his eyes followed Neji's every single step, extending his left hand out towards his opponent and launched the chakra around his hand towards Neji, causing him to dive to the side to avoid it. As the phantom hand flew by, it swung around and flew back towards him. '_What the hell is he_!?' Neji thought as he forced chakra into his hands and feet and pushed off the ground, flying over the hand as it again went after him.

With Neji in the air, Naruto threw forth his right hand, sending the chakra towards the air-bound Hyūga, with nowhere to go. Neji stabbed at the chakra as it grabbed him, having no effect on the chakra arm as it wrapped around him, pressing his arms tight against his side. The boiling chakra started to burn into Neji's flesh as he was pulled towards Naruto and was now face to face with his opponent.

He tried to break free, but with only his legs free of the vice-like grip, he didn't have many options left to him.

As a last ditch effort, he brought his legs together and kicked Naruto in the face, causing him to stagger back from the sudden assault and let go of Neji as he covered his face with both hands. Blood ran down from his broken nose and there was a hissing as the blood boiled and was absorbed into the cloak, he grabbed his nose and jerked it back into place as the chakra began to heal the damage.

Naruto suddenly charged at Neji, going at such a speed that he had no other choices available. As they got closer together, Neji poured chakra out of his body and started the Kaiten rotation as Naruto collided with him, the red and blue chakras battled for dominance as they grinded together, neither combatant willing to give up.

Suddenly there was a white flash, followed by a powerful explosion as the colliding chakra's detonated with such force, knocking the two boys apart and into the ground. Wind rushed through the arena, blowing several Anbu down on their asses.

As the dust cleared, there were two smoking craters in the ground, the crowd looked on, waiting for something, anything to happen, Genma looked back and forth at the two piles as suddenly Neji pulled himself out of the rubble and stood, limping badly.

* * *

Hinata stared in disbelief, '___There is no way Naruto-kun lost…he couldn't have…'_ she couldn't accept the fact that her crush and best friend was lying out cold in the dirt while her cousin now stood over him.

* * *

Neji looked down on the unconscious blonde, with respect and fear in his eyes. "You see…no matter what kind of power you may have, fate decided that you would lose…," he continued to look at the boy when suddenly, he went up in smoke, causing Neji's eyes to shoot wide open. Where the clone was lying, a hole was revealed to be under it, there was a noise behind Neji as Naruto burst out of the ground directly behind, with what little strength and chakra he had left, Neji spun around and jabbed his fingers into Naruto's heart. Naruto jerked forward at the blow and instead of pain or disbelief, he was….grinning, "Gotcha," he informed Neji as he went up in smoke again.

Neji was having trouble comprehending what was happening until he reactivated his Byakugan too late and turned towards the incoming threat, the speeding orange Naruto bullet aimed right at him.

Naruto had his arm cocked back as he flew towards Neji and yelled as he closed the distance, slowly punching his arm out with all the power he hand, connecting the Hyūga in the jaw. The momentum went from Naruto into Neji and threw him several feet through the air and went tumbling across the ground as he hit the floor. Naruto slid across the ground at a greatly reduced speed, having given all of it to Neji and had stopped on his knees, breathing heavily.

_'____I…can't move...my body__'_ Neji thought, desperately trying to get up, but nothing would respond to his call. He turned his head to Naruto, "How…," he asked, not understanding what had just happened.

Naruto grinned, "Even with your eyes, you can't see everything, after you used your Kaiten and there was that explosion of power, I used the '**Kage bunshin no jutsu**' to form two clones and jumped out of the area and hid, one clone I had dig a hole to where you would be and the other I had lay over the hole. As the first clone vanished, you knew there was going to be an attack from the ground, which you then attacked the other clone that was popped out of the ground. Thinking the battle was over, you let your guard down and I was waiting with my other clones to hit you with my tackle," he explained.

Neji's brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend just what exactly Naruto had explained to him. "What...?" he questioned, very confused by the blonde's explanation.

Naruto fumed, "Whatever, it doesn't matter, I win!" the blonde yelled while pointing at the immobile Hyūga.

Neji blinked several times before looking at the sky in disbelief, "I was beaten by a failure and his favorite jutsu…" he stated.

Naruto calmed down, stood up and walked over to Neji and looked down at him, "Actually, Bunshin was my worst jutsu, I failed the academy twice because of it" he stated, Neji looked at him in shock at hearing the information as Genma walked over.

"The winner is, Naruto Uzumaki!" he announced to the crowd, a loud cheer going up to the victor. Fatigue leaving him in an instant, Naruto ran around the stage, waving at everyone, Genma could only smile and shake his head at the blonde's unbelievable stamina. Naruto was instructed to head to the waiting room with the others until his next match while medical personal came and took Neji away, before he left the stage, he took one last look at Hinata and grinned.

* * *

"YAH NARUTO!" Kiba yelled at the top of his lungs, not doubting for a second that the blonde would win, especially after losing himself to the kid he had thought was a nobody.

Hinata was smiling with a blush on her face as she saw Naruto grin at her, '___I should have never doubted you, Naruto-kun,__'_ she thought to herself, Kiba still going crazy with his cheering.

* * *

As Naruto entered the waiting room, everyone looked at him with a mix of amazement and fear except one person. Gaara of the Sand looked at the blonde with hunger and a want, no, a NEED to fight him after seeing the raw power that the blonde held. Shikamaru was the first to question Naruto, "What in the hell was all that Naruto? I never knew you had that kind of power," he asked, unsure of what just happened.

Naruto casually leaned over the railing without looking at Shikamaru, "What are you talking about?" he questioned, playing dumb.

"What am I talking about? You know exactly what I'm talking about, what was that red chakra just now?" he drove the point home by poking Naruto in the shoulder several times.

Naruto lightly chuckled, "Have no idea what you're talking about," he answered, causing Shikamaru to sigh.

"Man, your such a drag sometimes," Shikamaru let the subject drop, knowing the blonde wasn't going to give him an answer, however, that didn't stop him from drawing up his own conclusions.

The next match came up, Gaara vs. Sasuke, with Sasuke still being a no show, the match was post-poned until a later time. The next match, Shino vs. Kankuro ended with Kankuro giving up before the match ever began, earning many boo's from the crowd. Temari entered the arena on her fan, ready for her fight with Shikamaru, after a long battle of wits, Shikamaru had caught Temari with his '**Kage Mane no jutsu**', but had given up, giving the win to Temari.

Naruto looked around, '___Where the hell are you Sasuke…__,_' not knowing what in the world was taking his friend so long to get there. He was drawn from his contemplations as Genma's voice rose up above the grumblings everyone waiting for Uchiha to arrive and fight.

"Due to not arriving at the appointed time for his match, Sasuke Uchiha is...disqualified, the winner of the match is Gaara of the Sand," he yelled out, knowing full well how many people were going to be beyond angry at the news. "The next match will begin now, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Gaara of the Sand, step forward".

Naruto couldn't believe it, Sasuke didn't show up. He became completely oblivious to everything that was going around him, singularly focused on that one thought, that his friend and the one person he wanted to fight the most, was disqualified.

Shikamaru started to shake the 'dead to the world' Naruto, trying to bring him back to reality. "Hey Naruto! Snap out of it, you have a match to fight!" he shouted right into the blonde's ear. Naruto didn't even flinch to the assault on his ear, causing Shikamaru to irritably sigh. "What a drag...," figuring that this is as good a time as any for payback, he walked up behind Naruto and gave him a swift kick in the ass. In Naruto's current state, he didn't even try to stop himself as he went over the railing and plummeted towards the ground.

He distantly felt the rush of wind on his face, bringing him out of his deadened state to see the ground rushing up to meet him, "OH SHIT!" he quickly formed the necessary seal and summoned several clones in front of him as he concentrated chakra to his feet and pressed them to the wall, all his clones doing the same.

They all were sliding down the wall, the clones helping to slow him down, but not as quick as he wanted as clones were being squished between the others and the ground, causing them to explode until the real Naruto was the last one left, his toes just about touching the ground from where they were on the wall. His nose was actually pressed against the ground, he let out a sigh of relief as he pushed himself up and walked towards the center of the ring, Gaara's eyes boring into him.

As Naruto neared the center, there was a rush of wind and leaves, causing everyone to cover their faces from the assault. As it died down, Naruto looked up and saw none other than Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke, he blinked a few times, '_I have to be dreaming right now,'_ he thought to himself.

"Sorry we're late, does Sasuke still have his match?" Kakashi asked Genma, rubbing the back of his head.

Genma scoffed at the idea, "Just like his sensei. No, he was disqualified for not showing up, Gaara was declared the winner and the next match is about to begin," he informed the silver haired jounin, to the shocked faces of both Sasuke and Kakashi.

Sasuke looked at Naruto and then to Gaara, "So…you beat Neji?" he asked, anger evident in his voice at never being able to fight his match.

His own anger rising again, Naruto walked over to Sasuke and smacked him upside the head, "YEA I BEAT NEJI YOU DUMBASS! WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN? WE WERE ALL WORRIED ABOUT YOU NOT BEING HERE AND THEN YOU SHOW UP WHEN IM ABOUT TO FIGHT YOUR OPPONENT AND YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO ASK IF YOU STILL HAVE YOUR MATCH!?" he yelled at his team mate loud enough to wake the dead.

"It was more my fault than his Naruto, forgive him. Come on Sasuke, I guess we have to watch the match from the stands," Kakashi explained to the two before shunshining up in the stands by Sakura.

Sasuke rubbed his ear that was yelled into and looked at Naruto, "You better win dobe, or I will never let you live it down".

Naruto grinned, "You know I will, dattebayo!" he stated with the utmost confidence. Sasuke nodded and shunshined into the stands with Kakashi, leaving Naruto, Gaara and Genma alone. Naruto and Gaara stared one another down, Gaara's eyes never blinking, never moving. Genma stepped back before announcing, "Let the match…begin!" jumping back as suddenly Naruto flew towards Gaara.

Gaara stood there unfazed as Naruto's fist came closer, sand instantly rushing up to catch the attack, shielding the red head. Gaara never moved a muscle or even looked towards the blonde as the sand pushed back, launching Naruto away from him, the blonde spinning in the air until he landed and once again ran at Gaara.

"**Kage Bunshin no jutsu!**" twenty clones popping up, kunai in hand, spreading around Gaara who had his arms crossed and still had not moved an inch in any way. Naruto's clones all jumped at Gaara at the same time only to have their target become surrounded by a dome of sand, each clone getting his hands stuck in the sand. Slowly the sand crept up the arms of each clone, covering them all in sand, "**Sabaku Kyū,**" the sand suddenly crushed all of the clones, causing sand to fly away as they exploded.

_'____Shit…how the hell am I supposed to fight this guy? This is like Neji, I can't get past his defense__'_ Naruto thought, movement drawing him back to reality as Gaara brought both hands back to his chest and launched them forward, "**Suna Tsunami,**" sending a wave of sand towards Naruto.

He pushed chakra to his feet and jumped as high as he could, summoning a shadow clone each time he reached the apex of the jump, the clone would grab him as he was slowing down and throw him higher and higher until he cleared the top of the wave of sand coming at him.

As the sand tsunami was about to pass under the blonde, a hand of sand appeared out of the top and grabbed his ankle, "Shit!" he yelled as the arm swung him back around and directly into the wave as it came crashing down.

As the sand settled, the was no movement at all. Suddenly Naruto's hand popped out as he dug himself out from under the sand only for Gaara to aim his hand at Naruto, "**Sabaku Kyū**". The sand quickly wrapped around Naruto, leaving his face uncovered, "I thought you were going to give me the fight I wanted, that you would give me the proof of my existence, but this was a waste" Gaara emotionlessly commented before he willed the sand to cover Naruto's face. "**Sabaku Sōsō**".


	6. Juxtaposition of Wills

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Naruto.**

**A/N: Okay, so not really much to say at this point, lol. Some people seem to like the story and tune in, most seem to come and check out it, find it's not their cup of tea, which is cool. I really appreciate Sadstoryteller and SliceNDicer8 for reviewing, I've been talking to both and their criticism really has helped me out. To everyone who just reads and goes "Meh, it's okay", screw you, say something or quit reading, just saying how I feel about it, I will laugh when these same people decide to follow and favorite my story later down the road as it gets good. For those who already have followed and/or favorited, I really appreciate your support, even if you're not vocal about it. Anyway, some of you want a chapter and thanks to SliceNDicer's story "Tossing away the masks", it's a truly good read, only got to chapter 15 and I can't help but laugh, it's hilarious and I highly suggest people read it and give it a shot, but his story got me in the writing mood, even though I should be enjoying my B-day, not like I was going to do anyway, don't drink, no girlfriend atm, so hell, here I am writing. Hope you enjoy this chapter and boy it is gonna be a dozy.**

The sand quickly wrapped around Naruto,leaving his face uncovered, "I thought you were going to give me the fight I wanted, that you would give me the proof of my existence, but this was a waste", he willed the sand to cover Naruto's face.

Naruto closed his eyes, accepting his imminent death at the hands of this powerful foe, wishing that he could have lived to see what his future held…but this was the end. He kept his eyes close for many agonizing seconds, waiting for the sweet kiss of death.

* * *

"******So that's it? All that yelling about becoming Hokage and showing what you're capable of and you just give up? Why was I put in such a piece of trash like you.****"** Naruto's eyes shot open hearing the voice that he would normally hear in his head, this time he actually heard each word. He saw that his environment had changed, he was in a tunnel filled with ankle deep water, pipes snaking across the ceiling, suddenly realizing where he was, he turned to the voice.

"The hell do you want, Fox," Naruto questioned, not overly sure where this was going. The way Naruto voiced the question struck a chord in the Kyūbi no Kitsune, in rage he rammed against the cage, causing earth to shake from the force.

"******You're about to die and kill me with you just because you have given up? Pull your head out of your ass kit before I do it for you!**" Kyūbi snapped at his host.

Naruto looked down at the his feet, "There is nothing I can do against his sand…it's everywhere. Even Bushy Brow couldn't beat him and he had all that speed and strength, he just destroyed all my clones in the matter of seconds...I don't have any jutsu or anything to combat that," he stated. For the first time in his life, he felt like he had come across a challenge that he couldn't beat just with will power.

"******GggrraaAAHHHH! Henge!**" the fox yelled, the anger in his voice shaking the mindscape as the Kyūbi no Kitsune transformed. Naruto stared in disbelief as the fox -now a man- walked right between the bars. Then proceeded up to Naruto and punched him twice in the stomach and then uppercut the boy, launching him up into the air and crashing onto the ground several feet away.

"******You worthless piece of shit, I'm not going to die just because a crybaby like you just suddenly lost his balls, I'll beat the shit out of you in your own mind if I have to if that's what it takes to get your ass back out there to beat that deranged bastard!**" the man yelled.

As Naruto was lying in the water, he looked at the man in disbelief, his hair was a little longer than a buzz cut and blood red, he wore a matching colored coat that ran down the length of his arms and down to just above his ankles, he wore a fishnet undershirt and a black sleeveless shirt on top of it with a extended collar that covered his mouth, the coat was buttoned near his stomach, letting the coat to open at the top and bottom, his left arm was pulled in from the sleeve and was resting in the top gap, laying against his chest, he had black pants that had leather straps running every which way up and down his legs and wore thick black leather boots. He had several different earrings and had an eye patch over his left eye with a flame imprinted on it, his right eye was slited and blood red and he had three whisker marks on each cheek, however the two things that Naruto was most focused on, were the two red fox ears on top of his head and the nine red tails that flowed behind him.

"How the hell are you out of the cell you stupid fox!?" Naruto asked flabbergasted that he was able to walk out his cell.

"******Oh you see, technically I'm not, all my power is still back there in that cell, right now, I'm just in my mortal skin, but I have enough power to kick the living shit out of you for being a WORTHLESS MAGGOT!**" he yelled as he kicked Naruto in his side with enough force to lift the boy into the air.

Naruto impacted the ground, rolling several times before coming to a stop. He started to push himself up, coughing up blood from the merciless beating he was receiving. The Kyūbi no Kitsune walked up to the boy; hate, anger and the desire to kill evident in his blood red eye.

Kyūbi reached down and picked Naruto up by the neck of his jacket with his right hand, lifting him up to look him in the eye. "**Now, give me a really good reason why I shouldn't enjoy beating the shit out of you.******** The fun part about being in your mindscape, time doesn't matter in here, years could pass in here and it would only be a second out in the real world. I could enjoy breaking every last damn bone in your body and make you suffer such exquisite agony as long as possible, please, I'm DYING for an answer, BOY!**" he yelled into Naruto's face.

Naruto simply took the beating and didn't respond, with no answer forth coming, Kyūbi threw him into the wall. The force Naruto impacted the wall with causing a crater where his body was stuck in the wall.

Kyūbi walked in front of Naruto and noticed the blank look he was given, "******Your pathetic, spouting all that nonsense about becoming Hokage when you aren't even worthy enough of picking the dog shit off my boot,**" he started to pace back and forth of his host, his tails twitching in agitation.

"******I don't even know HOW you managed to get this far…,**" he stopped in front of Naruto and bent down to look the boy in the eye. "******Oh that's right, because of me, you would have never beat that Haku kid without me, you would have never beat Neji without ME, hell, because of me, the villagers all hated you which pushed you to become acknowledged as a person instead of being just a nobody, all because of ME****!**" he shouted.

"******Now that you face an opponent that you might not be able to win against, you give up, condemning me to die in a pathetic excuse of a human being, I don't even know what that Hyūga bitch sees in you**"

Naruto was numb to everything at this point, he barely heard anything the fox was saying to him, he felt nothing, he was falling into the black abyss of nothingness, but as the Kyūbi went on and on at the boy, one word came through loud and clear.

"Hinata…" he softly mumbled, causing the Kyūbi to stop in his tracks, his fox ears twitching at the noise, he turned and walked back in front of the boy, leaning down and looked at the boy.

"******Aww, did I hit a chord there? That pretty little Hyūga girl you like? Well unlike you, I will eventually come back to this world and resume my rampage and since you have such feelings for her, I'll come back to Konoha and kill her first,**" he informed the boy. Each word pulling Naruto slowly back from the abyss, his fingers twitched slightly as the Kyūbi continued to talk.

"******Oh and will I have such fun, by the time I'm done with her, she will wish she was dead, but I won't give it to her at first. I'll make her suffer for years and you only have yourself to thank for it because your trash, not worthy of anyone loving you or caring for you, not worthy enough to even breath in life,**" he brought his right hand up and lightly smacked Naruto's cheek.

"You…won't…touch her….." Naruto mumbled, sensation returning to his body, being overwhelmed by the pain of the early beating, but pushing past it.

"******I won't touch her will I****?**" Kyūbi asked, "******You know what? I have an even better idea, I won't kill her, since I don't have a mate, I'll make her suffer and when she has completely given up on life, I'll take her as my mate. Every time I die, I can take up a new one,**" an evil grin forming on his face. "**S********he will be my own personal sex slave and it's all thanks to you and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, is there?**" he asked, tilting his head.

Naruto heard every single word now as he fully regained his consciousness, the last comment causing hatred and rage to rise in Naruto, rage that he never knew that he had, he felt a familiar power seep into him, the Kyūbi no Kitsune's chakra. His anger triggered the chakra to begin flowing through his body, Kyūbi frowned as he saw Naruto's hair start to grow wild and his features started to turn feral.

"You…will not…lay a HAND ON HINATA!" Naruto yelled, his red eyes locking on the Kyūbi's own shocked filled eye. Naruto threw a fist out and connected with the Kyūbi's face, flinging him across the hall and into the opposite wall.

Kyūbi laughed as he stood up and looked at Naruto. "******Oh dear, it seems something I said triggered something in you, didn't it?**" he asked as Naruto crouching on all fours as the Kyūbi cloak formed around his body.

"******Is that how it's going to be kit? I say something about your pathetic bitch girlfriend and you use MY power to fight me? At least I'm getting a response now, before was just anno-**" he stopped and moved his head as Naruto punched at him, his fist connecting with the wall, leaving a fist sized crater. Kyūbi grabbed Naruto's arm and flung him closer to the cage, Naruto sliding across the floor towards the cage.

"******Go on then, take my power, I hope you choke on it**", Naruto stood there as the Kyūbi walked towards the cage and proceeded in willingly, a smile on his face. Once he was inside, he sent a sudden surge of chakra into Naruto's body, causing the boy to scream in agony as two tails appeared on the cloak.

**'****__****Fool doesn't realize that the more he uses my power, the more he weakens the seal. That Jūken strike by that Hyūga girl will work well to my advantage of taking control of his body one day…****"**He thought to himself as he enjoyed the screams coming from Naruto, he used his will to force the boy out of his own mind and back to the real world.

* * *

"**Sabaku Sōsō,**" the sand started to crush Naruto and was suddenly blown up into a perfect sphere, barely containing the power being unleashed. Gaara's eyes widened as he heard Naruto screaming inside the dome of sand. As far as he was aware, he wasn't able to finish the jutsu to do any damage.

Suddenly the Sand was blown away from Naruto's body, red chakra snapping in the air, he was in the two tailed Kyuubi cloak, Gaara was beyond excited at the power that was in front of him, looking into Naruto's two red orbs filled with so much hate and anger. He saw himself in those eyes.

Every single ninja except the younger generation stood, afraid that their worst fears were being realized; the seal was breaking. they prepared for anything at this point, even if they had to kill Naruto before the Kyuubi took full control of his body to avert another disaster.

Hinata couldn't breathe, this time as she looked at Naruto, there was nothing in his eyes except hate and rage, there was no love, there was no compassion, just animalistic fury.

"Naruto-kun…" she softly muttered, squeezing her hands against her chest, waiting for whatever events to unfold.

Kakashi, Sakura, Ino, Sasuke, Gai and Lee looked on in horror. Kakashi and Gai couldn't believe what was happening, nor did they want a repeat of what happened so long ago with the Kyūbi no Kitsune

Sasuke and Lee looked on with both fear and awe at the raw power that Naruto now had, but the overwhelming hatred dampened much of any other feelings as the two boys looked on. Both girls were scared out of their minds seeing this happen to Naruto a second time, not knowing what was going on, but knowing something bad was going to happen.

Naruto burst into motion, running on all fours straight at Gaara, as the red head willed the sand to attack the beast coming at him. Naruto easily dodged every attack, his mind being consumed by the hate and focused on his target, his body moving on pure instinct. Naruto pulled back and went to punch at Gaara, the sand moving on its own to protect him at the incoming threat and then Naruto was gone, quicker than both Gaara and the sand could register, Naruto appeared around the sand and delivered a powerful punch to Gaara's face, launching him through the air to crash against the wall of the stadium.

Through all of the commotion and all eyes set on Naruto, Orochimaru took his chance attacked the Hokage, starting the Suna and Oto invasion of Konoha. Kabuto activated a genjutsu that put to sleep almost everyone except the ninja in the stands while Sakura, Shikamaru and Shino dispelled it to stay awake.

Kankuro, Temari and Baki appeared next to Gaara, his Suna no Yoroi took the brunt of the damage, but was cracked all across his body.

"Come on Gaara, we gotta go" Kankuro stated and started to reach for Gaara, who fixed him with a death stare.

"Don't dare touch me, or I will kill you" he stated, a sadistic smile creeping on his face, scaring all three of the sand shinobi. He slowly pulled himself from the wall and stood, the sand falling off of his body, "So this is the monster inside of you, Naruto Uzumaki" he asked, "You are strong. You have goals. You have friends. You are similar to me. By killing you, I can exist in this world as the one who erased your existence! I will be able to feel that I am alive!" he yelled, madness starting to take him as the sand started to fix the shield on his body.

"Gaara, what about the plan!?" Kankuro asked, knowing full well that Gaara was in that mood where nothing else mattered. At that moment, Naruto sent both of his hands forward, both he and Gaara were set on their opponents, nothing else mattered, his red chakra swatting the three other sand ninja away and grabbing Gaara in one hand, he slammed him several times into the ground and threw him into the air, sending his other hand up to chase the flying ninja.

Naruto grabbed his foot and swung him back towards the ground; the red head flew towards the earth and crashed with tremendous force, causing a huge crater where he landed. Naruto stood there and watched as the dust cleared, "Suna shuriken!" several fast sand shuriken flew towards Naruto, who quickly moved out of the way.

As the dust cleared Gaara stood there with a long tan tail and both arms were surrounded with sand, shifting into the limbs of the Shukaku inside of him, the left half of his face had also changed, his eye shifting to the eye of Shukaku as well while the right remained turquoise, but full of insanity.

"You're not the only one with a monster inside of them! Let's see which is the stronger, Naruto Uzumaki!" he yelled, his mind going unstable as the two personalities mixed together. Temari, Kankuro and Baki went to help Gaara fight the blonde, but were stopped by Genma, Sasuke and Shino.

"You guys aren't going anywhere", Sasuke stated as he looked at Temari. Kankuro broke away with Shino chasing after him, Baki and Genma started to fight in the stadium, leaving Temari and Sasuke.

Temari put her hands up, "I give, there isn't anything I can do, I used too much chakra in my match", she stated to her opponent.

"Wise move", they both turned to look at the two Jinchuriki as they heard an explosion, Gaara had managed to grab Naruto and drive him into the wall, however, Naruto sent the chakra down the arm, causing the chakra to burn the length of the arm. Gaara screamed in pain, now that the sand was a part of him, he felt everything it did, he jerked his hand away from Naruto, freeing him as the blonde charged and tackled Gaara.

Naruto started to punch Gaara, each hit breaking his mental barrier between him and the Shukaku. Gaara grabbed Naruto and threw him to the side, the blonde landing on his feet and skidding back as Gaara got closer to the full Shukaku form, the only thing left were his legs.

* * *

Hinata was snuggled comfortably against her chair as she dreamed of cinnamon buns and Naruto until the genjutsu was dispelled by Sakura. Her eyes slowly fluttered open as she looked around, "Sakura? What's going on?" she asked, confused as she saw ninja against ninja.

"From what I've been told, the Sand and Sound are attacking Konoha, Kakashi-sensei ordered me to wake you up," she said, she was forced to duck as Gai flew overhead, kicking a Oto ninja away from the two kuinochi.

Hinata blinked a few times as suddenly a thought occurred to her, "Naruto-kun!" she yelled and stood to see that Naruto was still in the arena with Gaara, who looked like some sort of monster, but that didn't matter, she had to get to Naruto, no matter what.

She started to run towards the edge of the stadium, "Hinata, what are you doing! Get back here!" Sakura yelled to no avail as Hinata sent chakra to her feet and ran down the side of the wall to Naruto.

* * *

Gaara was firing sand shuriken at Naruto, who simply dodged them and send his hands out to attack his opponent, who used sand to block the incoming attacks. Unbeknownst to Naruto, Gaara had his tail going into the ground, traveling through the dirt by changing it into the sand and popping up right under the blonde and grabbing him, Gaara fought through the pain as he fired shuriken after shuriken, each one pelting Naruto.

As soon as the shuriken started, they stopped, not knowing what was going on, Naruto looked up to see the back of a girl standing in front of him, hitting the incoming shuriken with her hands, breaking every single one apart. Naruto's eyes suddenly shifted blue as his consciousness appeared through all the mindless rage and recognizing who it was that was protecting him, "Hinata…"

Gaara stopped his barrage and stared down the girl who kept her steel gaze set on him. "I will not let you hurt my Naruto-kun!" she yelled, her Byakugan activated as she stood in the Juuken stance.

"Hinata, get out of here! You don't stand a chance against him!" he tried to move, but Gaara's tail held him there.

Hinata kept her eyes on Gaara, "I can't lose you Naruto-kun, you're too important to me and I will fight with my life on the line to protect you," she turned her head to look at Naruto and smiled, "And I never go back on my word, that's my nindo".

Naruto stood there, speechless as Gaara swung an arm around, Hinata quickly turned to see the arm coming at her, but was unable to dodge it as the arm caught her in the side and flung her across the stadium. Watching everything, Naruto's heart sank as he saw Hinata slowly get up before Gaara threw his hand in her direction and pressing her against a tree, the sudden impact pushing the air out of her lungs as she was stuck there.

Gaara looked at the girl and then at Naruto, "What is this girl to you?" he started to crush Hinata against the tree, causing her to scream out in pain.

"STOP IT!" Naruto yelled, he started to jerk around, trying to free himself from the tail gripping him.

"What is this girl to you!?" Gaara yelled, crushing Hinata even more, earning yet another scream.

Naruto looked at Hinata, tears running down his face as he finally realized what she meant to him, Hinata was still slightly conscious as she looked back at him, "She's…everything to me".

"People who bring such unnecessary emotions into battle should just die. You do not know the true meaning of being strong, love only yourself and fight only for yourself, this is the true meaning of being strong. Give up your feelings for this girl if you want to beat me!" he stated and left part of his hand there to hold Hinata to the tree, "The sand will continue to crush the life out of her until you can beat me, fight for yourself if you want to win!"

"Like hell I will! My loved ones give me strength and I'll be damned before I give them up!", Naruto used his tails and willed them to stab through the tail wrapped around him, breaking the grip on him as he charged at Gaara who was wailing in pain. Gaara quickly brought his arms up as Naruto punched at him, Gaara slide back from the power behind the punch and swung his tail around, Naruto blocked it but was tossed closer to Hinata.

Naruto turned to look at her unconscious body, his feelings for her the only thing that was stopping his mind to go crazed with anger and rage, he felt that his time however was running out, his body wasn't used to having all of this power running through it.

He charged Gaara who sent sand out at the blonde who accepted every hit, still charging right at Gaara. His eyes opened in shock seeing that he was still coming even though taking a beating and put up several walls of sand to stop him.

Naruto ran through every single wall, fighting for the life of his most treasured person in his life, he didn't flinch through all the pain, as he broke through the last wall, Gaara was stupefied as Naruto sent both his tails to wrap around Gaara's legs and pushed chakra into his arms as he mercilessly hit Gaara in the face, each hit causing cracks along Gaara's body, sand flying in every direction.

Naruto pulled back his right arm and sent all of the chakra into his fist, the Kyuubi cloak vanishing as his the chakra around his fist turned into the head of a fox. Gaara could only stare in disbelief as the fist came and connected with his face, the power launching Gaara through the air, the Shukaku form falling from his body as he went rolling across the ground.

Naruto fell to the ground as the Kyuubi's chakra left his body, he turned to see the sand was falling from Hinata's body, she started to fall forward before Kakashi suddenly appeared and caught her before she hit the ground. Kakashi looked at Naruto and nodded, Naruto smiled and turned back to Gaara and slowly worked his way over to the boy.

Their eyes never left each other as Naruto crawled over to the red head using his chin. Gaara's eyes widened as Naruto got close, "Don't get near me, stay away!" he was scared, a feeling that Gaara had never felt for a very long time.

Naruto stopped, "I know what it feels like…to be alone, that feeling is completely out of this world right? I understand how you feel, but…I have people who are important to me now and I won't let anyone hurt those people important to me", he tried to move but his body was beyond the capability of any function now that the Kyuubi's chakra was gone, "If anyone tries…I'll stop them, even if I have to kill them".

"Why…why would you do this for strangers?" Gaara asked, not understanding the reasoning behind the simple statement.

"My loneliness…the hell I lived in…they saved me from it and they acknowledge my existence, they're important to me…That's why I will protect them with everything I have" he stated, trying to move forward, but was stopped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw Hinata looking at him.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, I'm fine," she said, she leaned forward and softly kissed his cheek, "You don't need to do anymore", she smiled.

"Heh…that's good…" Naruto said before passing out. Sasuke and Kakashi walked up beside Naruto and looked over at Gaara as Kankuro and Temari appeared, ready to fight.

"Don't fight them..." Kankuro and Temari turned to Gaara upon hearing his request, both shocked at this change in their brother. "Let's stop...," Gaara looked up into the sky, deep in thought as Kankuro walked up and slung one of Gaara's arms over his shoulder. The Suna siblings looked to Kakashi, who nodded his head, with that, they vanished.

Kakashi walked over to the unconscious Naruto and deftly pulled him onto his back to take him to the hospital, a concerned Hinata with him every step of the way. As they proceeded to the hospital, the fighting in Konoha was brought to it's final conclusion, the leaf shinobi had managed to suppress the Suna and Oto attack on the village.

* * *

Naruto found himself once again in his mindscape, staring into the cage which held the raw power of the Kyūbi no Kitsune locked inside, the large swirling mass of chakra hovering above the floor. Which explained why standing in front of the cage stood a man Naruto was growing to hate.

"******Welcome back, kit**".


	7. Highwinds of Discovery

**A/N: Hey all, welcome back. 25 followers, 18 favorites, more reviews than ever, I am happy. I think at this point, I do need to slow down and really put myself into the chapters, thought I was before, but I guess I wasn't putting enough in there, plenty of room of improvement and thanks to a few of you, I'm going to get there, also have to thank R.A. Salvatore and Terry Goodkind, who I will be reading for probably the 7-8th time now to help give me a much better idea of how to write out my story and get the juices pumping so to speak, lol. **

**Anyway, to answer a few things:**

**SliceNDicer8: I'm glad you liked it and the reason he probably reminds you of a drill Sargent is probably because of the whole pacing back and forth, yelling and calling Naruto a worthless maggot, lol.**

**Aymred: I'm glad you enjoy it and I will be continuing it for awhile at least, not entirely sure how long it's gonna go, but I'm gonna push it.**

**Soulfistx: Best. Damn. Review. EVER. Really glad you reviewed and have given me all this helpful info for me to improve and fix problems in my story, have already talked to you about a lot of things and will continue to talk to you as time goes by.**

**Infamous Guest reader: I'm both sad you find the story lacking in those qualities except chapter 6 and am happy that you enjoyed chapter 6. However, I did say that I would try to keep my story and events as close to the canon as I can while changing things that I wanted to fit my story better. But, everyone has their opinions and while I value everyone's, sorry you don't enjoy it.**

**With that being said, I am currently doing changes to chapter 1-6 to fix the problems that were stated by soulfistx, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing, just take it at a slower pace instead of once a day or two, gives me more time to really think and make sure it all works out well since I apparently lack in that department. I will be re-posting 1-6 all together when the edits are done, if you read this chapter and its any indication of the changes that will occur in the other chapters, I hope you enjoy them. Anyway, enough with my rambling, on with the show!**

* * *

Hinata couldn't take her eyes off of him. She felt lost as she gazed upon the unconscious blonde in front of her, her heart aching for answer; her mind vividly recalling everything thing that she had seen at the Chūnin exam, especially those events concerning her long time crush. She was both fearful and worried about what had happened that day; the red chakra swirling around his body, the anger and blood lust that emanating from his person, but this was the same Naruto she cared so much about.

She softly sighed while absentmindedly rubbing his cheek. Wanting so hard to hold onto this image of him, but the dreadful feeling she had upon seeing Naruto in that state of pure rage kept surfacing, causing her eyes to tear up. With no one to talk to and console her about the issue, she was resolute in finding out this secret that he had kept from everyone.

For better or worse, the opportunity presented itself when Team 7 happened to stop by to check on their missing team mate. Out of the three there, the only one who seemed even remotely interested in Naruto's well being was the silver haired Jounin; Kakashi Hatake. He solemnly stood at the end of the bed, his gaze never leaving Naruto's peaceful face while his mind wandered, to what, she did not know. His look however worried her even more as he simply ignored everything that was going on around him concerning his other two students, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.

Sasuke was also staring hard at the sleeping blonde with a mix between disbelief and hatred plastered on his face. Understanding fully the disbelief that was etched on his face, Hinata could hardly understand why there was hate mixed in. She knew of rivalry that Sasuke and Naruto had for each other, but that did not warrant such a level of rage.

Sakura on the other hand, half-heartedly asked about Naruto's condition, not necessarily caring; her attention remained fixed on the brooding Uchiha. The overall lack of concern for their downed comrade struck a chord in the usually timid girl, her hand clenching tight in anger, but she pushed that out of her mind. Gathering her courage as she returned her gaze to the blonde, she bluntly asked, "Kakashi-sensei, what was the red chakra we saw at the Chūnin Exams?"

As the question left her lips, a sudden wave of uncertainty rushed over her. Now that she had asked the question plaguing her mind, she wasn't overly sure she wanted to know the answer. There was a long pause as if time stood still, all three teenagers were looking at the Jounin, who was still looking at Naruto with a five mile stare, his thoughts obviously elsewhere.

Gradually, Kakashi became aware of being asked a question, blinking several times before looking towards Hinata, fully aware that the other two were listening intently.

"It's not my place to say Hinata, if you want the answer, your going to have to talk to Naruto about it," he stated with a little worry and sadness in his voice. He put on a smile to try and reassure the girl "I will say this much, no matter what you may have seen, he is still the same Naruto we all know and love, nothing has changed."

With that being said, he turned and walked slowly to the door and stood there, staring intently at it as he fought his personal feelings to simply tell the three the honest truth or an outright lie. However, he set his personal feelings aside, he suddenly opened the door, turning to take one last glance at the blonde. Then in a commanding tone, "Sasuke, Sakura, lets go," he ordered, hoping that Hinata's presence alone would be enough to Naruto in his recovery.

Sasuke let out an annoyed "Tch" before abruptly turning and walking out of the room at a brisk pace with Sakura right on his heels. Casting his gaze one last time on Hinata, he waved, "Don't worry, he will be fine," with as much of a smile as he could muster while closing the door. His face took a grim visage as he walked away, not sure if he could even fool himself into believing everything could be alright.

That was yesterday, with Naruto still being out and Hinata still watching over him like a guardian angel. Her eyes became heavy after having watched the blonde sleep for the past three days and not getting much herself. She folded her arm on the edge of the bed, then rested her head on her arm as she started to fade off into the realm of sleep, one last thought running through her mind before sleep taking her. "Please wake up...Naruto-kun..."

* * *

"**Welcome back, Kit,**" Kyūbi casually greeted as he walked up to the youth.

Naruto's temper growing rapidly after having dealt with the fox much more than he would have ever liked to up to this point of his life, especially since their last encounter was in no way pleasant.

"What the hell do you want now!?" he growled angrily, his eyes snapping towards the crimson dressed man , fists clenching tightly with rage.

The fox stopped in his tracks upon hearing the tone in Naruto's voice and feeling the hate radiating from his body, he nonchalantly lifts his right arm out to his side in a non-aggressive manner. To throw salt in the wound, he gives the boy a bow before standing back up, a playful smile etched across his handsome face.

"**Your always such a lovely person to talk to, as usual, Kit. I simply wanted to congratulate you on your win against that Suna kid**". He stops, while slightly tilting his head back to gaze at the ceiling, he brings his right hand to his chin and taps in contemplation, "**What was his name again?**"

The taunting action only adding fuel to Naruto's rising rage. "Congratulate me? What the hell are you talking about you damn fox!?" he exclaimed, taking a step forward.

The man/fox scoffed at the threat. "**Do you only have one tone of voice when you talk to me? You always sound like you have this giant stick up your ass, lighten up,**" he retorted, annoyed with Naruto's tone. "**I help you and this is the thanks I get? Makes me not want to help you in the future.**"

Naruto snapped in outrage at the Kyūbi's allegations "Help me?! You spewed all that crap about me, you practically called Hinata a slut and now you want me to 'Thank you'? I'll thank you alright!" he barred his teeth as anger clouded his judgment, running at the fox with the intent to kill.

Kyūbi simply sighed and closed his uncovered eye, patiently waiting for the blonde to close the distance. Naruto's foot steps grew closer and closer, Kyūbi could tell just how far away the boy was and what he was going to do with sound alone. Naruto's fist drew closer to his face before Kyūbi burst into action, quickly firing his tails forward to wrap around the blonde's arm, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

Naruto stood, stunned at what just happened while the fox opened his eye, a smug smile creeping its way across his lips

"**Surprised? I am the Kyūbi no Kitsune after all, now if you would kindly sit down, shut up and let me explain,**" he ordered while kicking Naruto's feet out from under him. As Naruto fell to the ground, Kyūbi helped him on his way by letting go of his arm and none to gently stomping down onto his chest, pinning him to the floor under his foot.

Kyūbi peered down to see Naruto's own shocked face looking back, it was an exquisite sight for the fox, however, his time was too limited to enjoy it for long. "**Now, are you going to try and hit me again or am I going to have to keep your ass down there to cool off?**"

Naruto was speechless, his mouth ajar and the words caught in his throat, causing Kyūbi to roll his eye in agitation. "**Very well then, stay down there,**" he dryly commented, leaning down and looking the startled boy in the eye. "**The reason I said all those 'horrible' things was to get a reaction out of you, find out what really pissed you off. Sure, there are several things that could have done the job, but the top thing on that list was a single three syllable word starting with an H, even you can guess what it is, Kit**".

Snapping out of his daze and staring into the Kyūbi's blood red eye, his mind functions enough to come up with an answer. "Hinata..."he breathed softly.

"**Correct, see, you do have a brain after all,**" Kyūbi remarked tediously, causing Naruto's brow to furrow in anger. "**Anyway, you were in a bit of a bind and you had to 'willingly' call forth my power. Now you've been training with, what's his name, Jiraiya?**" tilting his head in question.

"Ero-Sennin" Naruto informed, this time, Kyūbi's brow furrowed at the ridiculousness of the pet name.

"**Right...as I was saying, at the level you were at, you were unable to call all that you needed and you needed a lot more to beat that red head kid. So, I pushed your buttons, can't say I didn't enjoy it though,**" he declared proudly, nine tails waving freely in the air.

Kyūbi glanced down at Naruto's shocked face looking back up at him, was an exquisite sight for the fox. "**Now, are you going to try and hit me again or am I going to have to keep you down there?**" an eyebrow arched in question.

Naruto lay there in the water, his mind snapping into action to digest all the information the fox had just explained to him. "So what your saying is that you simply made me mad just so I could win?" he inquired, unsure whether to believe the fox or not.

"**Very good kit and here everyone thought you were an idiot,**" he japes while slowly removing his boot from the blonde's chest, he then turns and leisurely walks back off to his cell.

Naruto sits up and watches the fox head that way, suddenly annoyed. "Is that it? You explain yourself for one thing, but nothing else? Like why the hell are you inside of me!?" he shouts at the distant fox. The comment stops the fox dead in his tracks, turning to his right to look at the boy and casually waves him over.

Naruto gradually works his way back onto his two feet before running to catch up. As he neared the cell, something felt off, but he wasn't able to place why he had this sudden feeling. Once he was arms length of the fox-in-man clothing, he took a sharp kick to the gut, sending him flying backwards, skipping across the ground before rolling to a stop.

Kyūbi enjoyed watching the shock and pain that crossed Naruto's face the instant his boot connected with the boy's stomach, but his time was ending. He turned back to his cell and uttered a simple statement, "**I'm done talking**". The blonde started to fade back to the real world, unable to see the wicked grin that spread its way across the Kyūbi's face.

* * *

Naruto woke with a start. His gaze feel upon the unfamiliar ceiling, his eyes darting around to take his surroundings. He suddenly realizes there is something resting on his left cheek, glancing in that direction to discover a hand. "_What the..._" he turns his head slowly and find Hinata sleeping soundly with her head on the edge of his bed. Smiling warmly, he brings his hand up and covers hers, affectionately rubbing it.

The sudden feeling of Naruto's hand covering hers causes Hinata to stir, groggily opening her eyes. She lifts her head up and looks at Naruto, half asleep. She blinks several times as her hazy vision clears to see a smiling Naruto, his cerulean eyes full of life and love.

"Sleep well Hinata?" He asks softly as he continues to rub her soft hand.

Hinata fully awakens and starts to tear up as seeing his radiant face, "This...this isn't a dream...is it?" she questions, her soft voice starting to crack.

He slowly shakes his head in reply, as he does, the Hyūga girl immediately throws herself at the blonde, hugging him tightly as the dam breaks. Her eyes unleashing all of her worries onto Naruto's chest.

"I was so worried...about you, that something might be wrong...then you never woke up an-" she manages in-between sobs before being cut off.

"I'm sorry for causing you to worry Hinata," he spoke softly, a deep sadness evident in his voice. He squeezes her tightly against him, both wanting each other for support. After several long minutes, Hinata slowly pulled away, lifting a hand to wipe her eyes and is stopped when she feels his hand cup her cheek.

The two gaze deep into each others eyes, their heart beats picking up as their cheeks flush red. On impulse, Hinata starts leaning forward, her eyes slowly closing as Naruto does the same. Their lips drew ever closer together when suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Both teens snapped out of their trance with Hinata scrambling to get off of Naruto and trying to look as if nothing was amiss.

Naruto manages to cough several times as the door swung open, in walking Team 7 leader, Kakashi Hatake.

"Oh good, your awake," he announces cheerfully while looking at Naruto. He starts to walk in and stops, seeing the blonde unable to keep his blush under control, movement from Hinata causing him to shift over to her. She was looking down at the ground with her hands clenched across her lap, his sharp eye detecting a slight tremble, as to what, he couldn't say.

"Am I interrupting something?" he questioned, looking back and forth between the two with his one uncovered eye. Naruto collects himself to try and dissuade any further prying of their business, "No, it's fine Kakashi-sensei. What brings you here?"

Kakashi continues to glance over the two teens before filing it away for later, "Just happened to stop by and see how my student was doing. You've been out for a few days and I was really starting to worry, how are you feeling?" he asked, concern being evident in his voice.

Performing a Naruto classic, he sheepishly rubs the back of his head while brightly grinning. "I can't believe I've been out that long, but I'm fi-" he starts to reply before his stomach growls loudly to the contrary. "Hehe, I could use some food though"keeping his bright smile as he looks to his sensei.

Kakashi holds up a hand before the blonde assumes anything, "Just because you've been asleep all this time and missed the funeral doesn't mean that I'm taking you to eat". The last statement causing the blonde to stare at Kakashi wide eyed.

"Funeral..?"

Despite being mostly covered, Kakashi's face takes on a solemn look. "Right...you've been out this whole time. During your fight with Gaara, the Suna and Oto attacked the village. Many died to protect it...one of them being..." stopping as he knew this last part was going to hit the boy hard, "Sandaime-Hokage".

Naruto stared long and hard at Kakashi, stunned to find that Hiruzen Sarutobi had died in defense of the village. His heart sinking as he remembers all the time he had spent with the man that was like a grandfather to him. He slowly lowers his head and looks down at his lap, clenching his fists so tightly, his fingers popping from the action. Unaware that to his side, Hinata was watching him, her own heart breaking apart to see Naruto in such a state.

She started to lean forward to try and console the blonde, but was stopped as he suddenly shot out of the bed and quickly picked up his clothes nearby, starting to dress.

Kakashi watched the scene unfold before chiming in, "What do you think your doing?"

"I've been out of the game for three days, I need to get back to training," he said determined, trying his best to hide the pain he still felt.

Kakashi walked over and stopped the blonde from continuing, forcing Naruto to look at his sensei. "That's the reason I came here, I have a message for you from Jiraiya-sama."

As the name left his lips, Naruto's grim face visibly brightened, "No way! You mean it?"

Kakashi couldn't help but smile at the boundless energy the boy had while reaching into a pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper. "Mmhmm, he wrote it down here."

Naruto quickly snatched the paper and unfolded it, lips moving wordlessly as he read. Once finished, he blinked several times to make sure he read correctly, then stuffed the paper in his pocket before pulling on his jacket. Kakashi and Hinata expecting the blonde to burst out the door, he lived up to his name as the Number One ninja of surprises. "Hinata, wanna come with?"

A blush forced its way to her cheeks at the sudden question, managing a slight nod before the blonde quickly grabbed her hand, dragging her out of the room without so much as a struggle. Kakashi stared wide eyed at the door the two had exited, a smile creeping across his covered face, '_I think she will bring the best out of him_'.

Naruto lead Hinata through the various avenues and alleys, blocking out the stares that were leveled his way. Hinata didn't see them at all, she was more focused on the fact that Naruto was holding her hand, their fingers locked together as Naruto pulled her along. She loved the roughness of his hands, each individual callus made so by the many long, hard days of training.

Before she knew it, Naruto had stopped in the middle of the road and gazed upon a sign, causing Hinata to nearly barrel into him, her ninja reflexes saving her from the disaster. Following his line of sight, Hinata came across the sign that read '強風バー＆グリル'.

"Highwind Bar & Grill?" she questioned, having never heard of the place, she turned to look at the blonde to find he was grinning enthusiastically.

"Come on, I want you to meet two people," he stated happily while leading her into the establishment.

**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed it, and for those of you who caught the reference, no, he will not be making an appearance. There will be other references later on that I know some of you will get, but for now, I'm not saying any more.**


	8. The Uncouth and The Terrifying

**A/N: So after a decline in views and visitors for almost a week, post a chapter and it spikes to 450-500 views and 200 visitors each, nice numbers, love it. Please everyone before you read this chapter, I have gone back and re-done and re-posted chapters 1-6 as of 06/30, I HIGHLY suggest going back and re-reading everything again. I am told it's a much better read from my beta/teacher soulfistx. If you don't plan to, it's your choice, just my personal opinion. I would also like to recommend reading soulfistx's story, Naruto: A Tale of Those Who Endure, it's a very well written story that he plans on taking to 6 books long, so plenty to read. Anyway, to get at some of the reviews:**

**soulfistx: I appreciate everything your doing and I hope that your story hits off (crosses fingers).**

**'Infamous' guest: Okay, so I'm not trying to be a dick here or anything, but I don't know if your English is bad or something but I want to point some things out. 1: I haven't the slightest idea how you took my note as me being 'hostile' when I was very sincere that I was sorry you only liked chapter 6. 2: If I was hostile, I would have said something similar to, "Your father was a Welshman and your mother smelt of elder berries, and I fart in your general direction". THAT'S hostile. But anyway, sorry that you had issues reading my A/N correctly and didn't like chapters 1-5, which have since been edited.**

**One last thing, I'm sorry for the long wait, but I wanted all the other chapters to be fulled edited to their current states and make everything perfect, much to the thanks of soulfistx, who was in the hospital recently, he is better now, but I missed his input, another reason it took so long.**

**Okay, so with that being said, hope you all enjoy the re-done chapters and the new chapter 8.**

As the couple walked in, they were greeted by the overwhelming aroma of various delicious foods being cooked on the many grills that were built into each booth. Booths lined the walls and down the middle of the restaurant with employees either cleaning empty booths or bringing food to other hungry customers. In the back were five doors that Hinata could only assume lead to private rooms for special guests or parties and bathrooms. By the front door was the register with two doors next to it, which oddly had a spear mounted above the doors.

The long shaft was onyx, reflecting the light off of it with elaborate golden designs running up to the tip of the weapon, the head branched off into there parts, the main in the middle was thick and sharply pointed with what appeared to be a detailed face etched into the side. Two side blades curving in towards the main head, leaving a big enough gap to catch most weapons. She admired the beauty of the deadly weapon before seeing the plaque that read, 'Gunshin no mori_._

Seeing that all the other employees were busy, Hinata looked to Naruto to find that his gaze was fixed on one of the doors. She started to say something to get his attention when the kitchen door burst open to reveal a very handsome, yet strange man

He looked to be in his 30's with short, buzzed silver hair with a large blue line going down the middle and a pair of dark sunglasses atop of his head. He had bright, intelligent blue eyes with a full, trimmed beard and a toothpick in his mouth. His skin was lightly tanned while wearing a traditional dark-blue unbuttoned jacket over a tight, simple white shirt which hugged his body, showing that he kept himself in very good shape and also wore simple tan pants.

"Hey Sis, we have anot..." the man started to yell back to someone inside, stopping once he saw the blonde standing there with his friend. "Otouto!" he yelled happily, causing several in the restaurant to stop and look at the commotion.

Hinata watched the grin spread across the blonde's face as he let go of her hand and walked forward in a motion to hug the man saying something that Hinata had not expected him to say, "Nii-san!"

'_N-nii-san!?_', she mouthed silently as Naruto closed the distance, Naruto's 'Nii-san' suddenly sucker punched him in the head, causing Hinata's eyes to open wide in shock. The blonde quickly grabbed his head, rubbing the new lump that was forming atop of his cranium.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto yelled while looking at the man who created this newest injury.

"That's for not stopping by more you little bastard" he retorted, bringing his arm back for another swing, but a pair of hands caught his arm, effectively stopping him.

"You really should stop hitting him brother, it's no wonder Otouto is such a baka and never wants to visit" a woman calmly stated, a soft smile gracing her lips. Hinata managed to look at this newest arrival to find that before her was a very beautiful young woman.

She had long, lustrous silver hair that framed an enchanting and warming face with a pair of dark green, piercing eyes. Contrast to the man she called 'brother', she had milky white skin while wearing a light red, alluring dress that showed off her womanly features to their fullest.

The woman leaned down and looked at the nasty lump on Naruto's head, "Does that hurt Otouto?" she asked, some concern evident in her voice.

Naruto managed a nod before the woman suddenly picked him up by the scruff of his neck and began to shake him like a rag doll.

"What the hell was all that at the Chūnin exams? You nearly gave us a heart attack!" she yelled angrily at the blonde. Every civilian and shinobi in the restaurant at this point had stopped eating to watch the ruckus that was being created, many pitied the poor blonde that was taking the brunt of it.

While being shaken around, Naruto managed a quick reply, "S-sorry Nee-chan," which upon hearing the apology, the red dressed woman put the blonde down, who promptly fell on his ass.

"Good, that's all I wanted to hear," she smiled happily, the sudden change in temperament reminding the stunned Hinata of Sakura. The woman then blinked several times upon finding the Hyūga girl standing there in shock, her face turning bright.

"Oh Naruto, is this your girlfriend? Why didn't you introduce us earlier!"

Jumping over Naruto's unmoving body, the woman gave Hinata tight hug, "It's so good to finally meet you," she stated happily as she let go of the girl and examined her.

"My, your a pretty one, come on then, lets go talk in private," she grabbed Hinata's hand and dragged her through the restaurant and into one of the private rooms. Hinata not being able to give much of a struggle having been bombarded with all that had occurred in such a short span of time.

'Nii-san' looked down at Naruto's seemingly lifeless body and grinned. "You really going to lie there on the ground or am I going to have to rough you up some more?" he stated, letting the threat hang in the air hoping that the blonde would take the bait; which he did.

Naruto started to pick himself up, 'Nii-san' lent him a hand and both walked off toward the room.

As the two passed booth after booth, the stares aimed their way did not go unnoticed, the man stopped while Naruto kept walking to the door and looked around.

"The hell you all looking at?" he asked loudly, the tone of his voice making all patrons return to their own meals. A smug smile forming on the corner of his lips as he followed Naruto into the private room.

As Naruto walked in, 'Nee-chan' was sitting on the opposite side of the room with Hinata sitting across from her. Hinata looked to Naruto, worry clearly evident on her soft face. Naruto smiled and sat next to her and whispered reassuringly, "It's alright Hinata, I'm okay".

'Nii-san' suddenly came in and sat down next to 'Nee-chan' giving Hinata the chance to answer a question for herself. She glanced back and forth between the two adults and then back to Naruto, trying to see any similarities between the three. All she could come up with was the two males had similar eyes and a strange aura about them, which Hinata thought strange.

Squeezing her hand tightly under the table to help gather her courage, she asked the question that was plaguing her mind.

"A-are you two Naruto's siblings?"

Both adults looked at Hinata at the question, then at each other before bursting into tears laughing. Hinata's face blushed red from embarrassment until she felt Naruto's hand find her's under the table. She quickly turned to him to see his reassuring, smiling face, which helped to ease plight.

As things calmed down again, the man chose to speak first. "No, we are not really his siblings. It's more of a complicated story since the woman next to me isn't even my sister," he started. "First thing's first, Otouto, you need to introduce us to your lovely girlfriend here," a broad grin spread across his face as he saw both teens blush furiously.

"We're not dating!" Naruto managed to yell at the two across from him. "N-not yet anyway...we're just really close," The two turned to look at each other, hands affectionately squeezing one another for support. The two adults managed a knowing glance to each other before the blonde continued, "Nii-san, Nee-chan, this is Hinata Hyūga, one of my best friends".

Hinata couldn't stop the light blush that crept across her cheeks at the compliment. "Well Hinata, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Aeron Highwind, proud owner of the fine establishment that you find yourself in and this lovely woman next to me is Yukano," Aeron smiled warmly at the Hyūga girl, setting her more at ease.

"Now, to explain what you saw earlier, I would have to tell you a bit about myself. Now, I'm not going to bore you with my life story because we would be here forever, but first, how about some food. You're both hungry right?" Lifting an eyebrow as he glanced back and forth between the two teens.

"Hungry? I'm starving!" Naruto exclaimed, making the older man chuckle.

"Your always hungry Otouto," Aeron got up and walked to the door, while passing Naruto, he put a hand on the boy's head and ruffled his hair and opened the door then barked out into the restaurant.

"Hey! One of you get your happy butt over here and bring some menus!" He stepped out of the way as a waitress slipped by and handed everyone a menu. "Order whatever you two want, it's on the house."

"Yeah! Your the best Nii-san!" Naruto happily exclaimed as he started listing off items to the unfortunate waitress. Hinata made her order, not nearly as much as the blonde, with Saiumi and Aeron getting a fair amount for themselves.

The waitress left to get their order cooking, returning shortly after with sake for the adults and tea for the kids, leaving once again afterwords. "Now with that being settled, to begin with, I was originally from the Kirigakure, after extenuating circumstances, I lost all my business and everyone I cared about..." he stopped, the sorrow obvious on his face as he relived the memories. Hinata stared long and hard at him, knowing that look so well as she shifted to Naruto.

Aeron shook himself from his thoughts before continuing. "Anyway, after all that, I decided it was time for a change in scenery and left all of it behind and traveled. Among the many fun times I had alone, I was ambushed by some bandits, one of them happening to be sitting in this very room." Tilting and turning his head, he looked at Saiumi with a mischievous grin.

Saiumi on the other hand, turned her head away and looked at the ceiling, a blush finding it's way across her cheeks.

"You're a bandit?" Hinata gasped, the thought of a criminal sitting in the same room making her uncomfortable.

Aeron picked up on Hinata's distress and patted the air to calm her down, "Former, don't worry, she's been rehabilitated." The statement having the desired effect on Hinata, however, it also had repercussions.

"You make me sound like I was a terrible person!" Yukano snapped, a scowl on her face.

"Oh calm down, you were a terrible person. You pillaged the weak of their belongings and left on your merry way to do whatever bandits do," he casually replied.

As Yukano became more angered, a vein started to bulge on her forehead. "At least they lived to see another day! We did what we had to survive!" she slammed the table suddenly, both teens wisely staying out of the fight between the two adults.

Aeron poured himself some saki as if nothing happened and took a sip. "I'm sure you did, but that all ended when you picked the wrong target. Didn't it?" A smug smile forming on his lips as the comment hit a chord within the woman, who blushed furiously and looked away. Naruto kept surprisingly silent, smiling at the interaction between the adults, however, Hinata stared at the man intently.

"You mean...she," she softly spoke the words, finding it hard to believe, however, Aeron's nod confirmed her suspicions.

"That's right, she attacked me. I know, I don't look like much, but that spear up front isn't just for show, I promise you that," he grinned confidently. There was a knock on the door causing everyone to look in that direction as it slide open, revealing their food had arrived.

"Finally, I'm starving!" Naruto exclaimed happily as food began to decorate every available space on the table. Hinata was flabbergasted at the amount of food presented before them, Yukano, seeing the shock on her face smiled. "It's quite alright, please eat as much as you want, Naruto is like family to us and we owe a lot to him", she gazed at the blonde which caused him to blush furiously.

"It was nothing really..." Naruto bashfully scratched the side of his head.

"What did you do Naruto-kun?" Hinata questioned softly, expecting an answer from the blonde, to instead get one from another person entirely.

"Well, when me and Yukano came here, we loved it and I decided I was going to open up a restaurant. Only problem was we didn't get many customers, most don't take well to outsiders just popping up and making a new establishment, especially when you have places run by local owners all around the place." Aeron poured himself another cup of sake and drank while Yukano, being left out for the moment, took this time to get some food.

"One day I had closed up early and was walking through the village to see this little kid get literally tossed out of one of said restaurants, not going to say the name because it's just not right for me to. Anyway, he gets up, brushes himself off and happens to run in my direction. I tried to catch him, but he squirmed out of my grip and so I followed him. Eventually, I found him sitting on a roof staring the moon."

"We sat on that roof together for hours, at first he was very hesitant to open up to me, so I opened up to him. It was comforting to just...let it all go and open up to someone, even if it was just some random stranger who knew nothing about me, it just felt...right. He eventually talked about himself, which turned out to be not a whole lot..."

Aeron stopped and both men looked at one another, a strange understanding passing between the two, something the two women didn't miss.

"It was like I had met a kindred spirit who had felt all the loss that I had, except he never had it to lose. He never knew what it was like to have a family or anyone care for him and everyone hated him for no apparent reason. Me, being a foreigner, couldn't understand why a child was so ostracized, but I would have none of it. I then offered that he stop by my restaurant the next day to try my food out and boy was I in for a surprise," Aeron grinned at the memory.

"True to his word, he came by the very next day as I opened and we gave him a feast for a lord. You wouldn't believe it, but he could put away some food, I don't know if even one of the Akimichi clan could keep up with him. After he finished, he gave me the brightest smile I had ever seen in my life and said he was going to repay me, and so he did. He ran out of my establishment, hollering at the top of his lungs all throughout the village about my food. Sure, many would have ignore him, but something would stick in the back of their minds and they came around to try our cooking.

"After that day, business sky rocketed and we're usually fully booked, all thanks to this little knucklehead right here."

Naruto bashfully rubbed the back of his head, both men not realizing that the women were lost in thought. '_I never knew Naruto-kun had it that bad..._' she started to tear up, hating the fact that everyone treated him like. She unconsciously squeezed his hand, alerting the blonde that something was wrong. He turned to see she was starting to, he slowly leaned over and softly kissed her cheek, startling the girl as she quickly looked at him, a genuine smile on his face.

"It's alright Hinata, I have people like you, Nii-san, Nee-chan and everyone else now, I couldn't be happier." Aeron watched the whole thing unfold, nudging Yukano out of her thoughts to see the couple, both smiling at the young love.

Suddenly, the door started to open, calling Aeron's attention, who quickly turned and spit his toothpick at the incoming intruder. The toothpick embedded into the door frame, inches from the face of one particular sannin.

"Watch where you spit those damn things, you could have taken my eye out!" Jiraiya, the great toad sage snapped, drawing the other three's attention to the man.

"Ero-Sennin! Where the hell were you!?" Naruto shouted at the sage.

"Hmm?" the sage looked at the blonde, perplexed at what he was talking about.

"You left me unconscious at the hospital and left without saying a damn word!"

"I'm not your babysitter kid, you passed out, I left you at a hospital and I went on to pursue my research in peace," he stated before looking at Aeron.

"Besides the whole toothpick thing, it's good to see you again," smiling at the other man.

"Good to see you too, but you should learn to knock in my establishment before barging into a private room,"he replied casually, a hint of a smile evident on his lips.

Naruto looked back and forth between the two men, "You two know each other?"

"Well of course, he's an avid reader of my books, all perverts know one another, right Aeron?" the sage grinned mischievously. Aeron covered his face, now that his secret was out, he knew he was going to get it.

"Nii-san! You actually read that trash!?" Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing, Yukano on the other hand couldn't stop laughing at the predicament Aeron found himself to be in.

"You just love making me miserable don't you, you old goat," Aeron snapped.

"That's for the toothpick, and my books aren't trash Naruto!"

Yukano brought the bickering to an end with a finality that only a woman possesses. "HEY!" all three men stopped and looked at the woman with wide eyes. "Quit your bickering and eat some damn food before it gets cold!" she screeched, causing all three men to fall into silence as they began to pick and eat food. Hinata couldn't help but giggle softly to herself with a smile on her face, '_Seems almost like one big happy...dysfunctional family_'.

The rest of the meal was eaten with idol conversation between the three adults, the two teens simply enjoyed being with one another as they ate their food in relative peace. As the meal came to an end, Jiraiya gazed at the blonde, "Naruto".

The blonde turned and gave his full attention to the sage so he could continue. "We have been given a assignment, we will be looking for a woman, once we find her, we bring her back here," he explained.

Naruto brightened at the thought of a mission, "Really? When?"

"We meet at the front gate in one hour, go pack your things for the trip".

"Yeah!" he howled in excitement. "Come on Hinata, I need to go pack!" Naruto jumped up and practically dragged Hinata out with him. Before leaving, he managed a loud "Thank you" before bolting down the road with poor Hinata in tow, holding onto his hand as if all life depended on it.

"Heh, that kid really is something," Jiraiya chuckled.

"About Naruto..." Aeron started, waiting until he had Jiraiya's full attention, "I suggest you take the Hyūga girl with you on your little search".

"Why is that?" the sage questioned, eyebrow lifted in curiosity.

"She and Naruto are close, she may have some sway over Naruto's...other half, help to make him more manageable should the unthinkable happen."

Jiraiya's tone grew serious, "You saw it then?"

"No, Kakashi filled me in on what he saw and just from what I had seen here today, I can only assume that he is correct."

Jiraiya thought it over a little before sighing deeply. "Jiraiya, the Great Toad Sage to Jiraiya, the Bijū babysitter," he dryly commented.

Aeron grinned, "Just be glad you don't have to deal with me as well, that could turn messy."

The sage shuddered to think of the idea, "I already have two sannin to deal with and nine tailed fox, I don't need you and your 'other' friend making it worse on me".

Aeron shrugged and got up with Yukano following behind him as they walked Jiraiya out. Aeron and Yukano stood in the road, watching the sage walk down the busy street and disappearing around a corner. "Do you honestly think she will be able to help tame the Kyūbi in Naruto?" Yukano inquired.

Aeron sighed heavily, "Personally, I don't know, the Kyūbi is far more powerful and judging from what I've been told, has far more hatred than the others..." he turned to his most trusted friend, "But we can hope and help him when the time comes."

"What if...if it doesn't work and the Kyūbi takes control?" the question that neither of them wanted to think about, but it had to be asked.

"If that happens and Naruto is beyond saving...then I will be the one to put his poor soul out of his misery..."

**A/N: I'm sure some people are going to have questions, but you can either wait for other chapters or ask in review form or PM me, which I will only explain certain things. You as readers will just have to come up with your own conclusions until later on. Also would like to say, yes Aeron is more or less based on my favorite character, and he has been like that ever since I played the game when I was a little kid and created Aeron. Hope you all liked it and seriously, if you haven't done it yet, go back and re-read the redone chapters 1-6. One more thing, Look at what ONE GOOD REVIEW did to improve the story. You could be next! If you care, REVIEW!**


	9. Demons of the Past

**A/N: I'm sorry that it took this long for me to post a new chapter, but I wanted to ensure that this chapter was by far my best and now it's also my longest written chapter. I hope you all like it since I only really get feed back from a few people, so I hope that more of you post your reviews to let me know what you think. With that being said, let me anwser some of the things pointed out in the 'few' reviews I have received:**

**SliceNDicer8: Yea, the big reference wouldn't be caught by most of the younger generation since this was during my time, kind of, lol. The reference was to one of my favorite characters of the game series, Final Fantasy, Cid Highwind. Now, granted 'Highwind' is a reused term through the Final Fanatasy games, Cid was by far my favorite and he is who Aeron is based upon. I'm glad that you enjoyed the changes that I made, sadly you seem to be the only one besides Soul to like them, but hey, it's w/e I guess.**

**I would like to give a big thanks to soulfistx, who helped me come up with the jutsu that Aeron will be using throughout my story and for all the other help that he has given me up to this point. I really appreciate his hard work, help and friendship.**

**With that being said, please enjoy the chapter, let me know what you think and I hope you all look forward the the upcoming chapter.**

* * *

The two stayed in the middle of the street a little while longer, one thinking about the possible future, while the other was drifting into the past. Long had it been since Aeron had talked about his unwanted departure of him home, the buried emotions and memories gradually resurfacing. Yukano, having been with the man for so long could tell something was amiss.

"You know...I'm alw-," she started before being curtly interrupted.

"I don't want to talk about it," he snapped in a tone of finality, still seemingly staring down the road. Yukano frowned at the man, about to speak on until he suddenly turned and walked back into the restaurant. She started to follow until he came right back out, only this time, his long, pitch black onyx spear was strapped to his back.

"I'm heading out, close up for me will you," he offhandedly stated as he started to walk down the road in the opposite direction the sage left.

Yukano was slightly taken aback at the change in temperament and his departure. "Where are you going and why?" she questioned, worry starting to take it's hold.

"I need to take care of some things, I'll see you when I get back." With that, he walked off casually, hands in his pockets as if nothing was amiss. Yukano stared long and hard at the man, trying to make heads or tails of what had just happened and what had brought on this sudden change. Not being able to think about it for too long as more patrons walked into the establishment.

'_I hope he will be alright..._' Taking one last glance in Aeron's direction before returning to her duties. "Hi! Welcome to Highwind Bar & Grill!" she declared happily to the new guests.

* * *

He noticed all the stares aimed his way, granted it was not unheard of for shinobi to walk around with weapons, but for a civilian, it was strange to be sure. Aeron continued to walk however, blocking out the looks as he went to chew on his toothpick to help set his mind at ease, only to find it missing. "Son of a...its stuck in the wall back at the bar..." He grumbled to himself while stopping in the middle of the road.

Everyone gave him plenty of space as he moved his hand deeper into his right pocket to grab his wallet. Pulling it out, opening it, then scanning its contents for what he was looking for, upon finding it, he grabbed it and put the toothpick in his mouth.

"Good thing I always keep a spare," he smiled slightly as he lightly chewed at the end of the toothpick and resumed walking. As he continued on with his stroll, the image of Naruto and Hinata popped in his head, '_I really do hope things work out for those two, that knucklehead deserves some good in his life._'

"Hey! Where are you heading off to?" A voice called out, stopping Aeron and bringing him from his thoughts. He blinked several times to find that he was about to walk out the front gate of Konoha and not even realize it. Glancing over to where the voice came from, there were two men, which he assumed were Chūnin judging by their attire, sitting in a little booth. One of the men waved Aeron over, '_Great..._' Reluctantly, he walked to the men.

"What business does a civilian have going outside of the village with a weapon like that?" One of the two questioned, both with curious looks on their faces.

"Well you see, me and the Mrs. got in an argument and..." He leans in while moving his right hand to cover one side of his mouth, glancing around and speaking in a hushed tone, "I just want to be far away from her and blow off some steam where she can't find me, you guys understand right?"

Both shinobi stared long and hard at the man upon hearing his explanation. '_Shit, this may turn ugly,_' Aeron started to slowly reach back with his left hand, until both shinobi cracked smiles.

"Boy, do I know what you mean, can never win with women right?" One snidely commented, making the other one chuckle.

"Your telling me," both turned their attention back to Aeron. "Just sign this and you can head on out, just be sure to check back in when you return alright?" The first one asked while moving a list towards Aeron with a pen.

"Will do." Aeron happily replied, signing his name on the list before resuming his departure of the village.

After Aeron was a good distance away from the village, he turned off the road and ran off into the forest, his eyes glancing around for any sign of movement. After running for several minutes, he came across a large open field, looking around in the trees, he wasn't able to see anything unusual, but he knew something was there. Throwing caution to the wind, he casually walked out into the middle of the field with his hands in his pockets and waited.

With toothpick still in his mouth, he began to whistle a tune to help pass the time when a large gust of wind rolled through, leaves ripping off their branches and being blown in the wind around him. He stood his ground while looking around, his vision landing on five masked ninja standing under the cover of the trees to his left.

"Took your sweet ass time getting here," he nonchalantly commented, reaching back and pulling his spear off his back and stabbing the butt into ground with his right hand as the five, three men up front and two women in the back, walked out to him in a V pattern. He knew them to be Anbu and judging from their masks, they were Kirigakure Anbu, which didn't surprise him. All five wore similar outfits, black long sleeved shirts and pants with a brown vest, some with shoulder pads

"Your a hard man to find, Aeron Kyoufu," spoke the Anbu in the middle, who Aeron assumed was the captain of this group. As he continued to look them all over, it struck him as odd that they would send a group off five instead of a normal four man squad or even two groups of four.

He filed it away for later and turned towards the group, "Wouldn't have been much fun for you if I made it easy now would it?" a grin forming on his face. He noticed that while the men held their composure, the women were another story. The one of the left was trembling, taking hesitant steps, while the right had fists clenched tightly at her sides.

"How did you become aware of our presence?" the leader asked curiously.

"You seem to forget that I used to be a Kirigakure shinobi like yourselves, I spotted you as an old friend was departing my company." Aeron pulled his right hand from his pocket, closed his eyes and scratched the side of his head. "To be honest, I thought I was seeing things, but in the back of my mind, I knew this was going to happen eventually, so I figured it was time to face this head on."

"I see...even after all these years, you haven't lost your edge," the leader commented. "So then you already know why we're here?"

"I would have to be some kind of moron to not know why I have Kirigakure Anbu stalking me," Aeron dryly remarked.

"Then give yourself up and come back with us! We have been away from the village for far too long!" The woman to the right snapped, taking a threatening step forward. The leader quickly turned in her direction and stuck out a hand, a signal to tell her to stop.

Aeron glanced in her direction, "First off, who the hell do you think you are to think you can threaten me? Secondly, give me one really good reason I would even WANT to go back to the place that made me what I am, then treated me like an outcast because of it?" Aeron retorted, his own hands clenching tightly.

"Because...your wife and daughter miss you..." The familiar voice caused Aeron to stare wide eyed at the masked woman to the left. Everyone turned to gaze in her direction as she slowly walked forward, reaching up to take off her mask.

* * *

He waited patiently in the scarcely furnished room, or as patiently as one could after waiting for some time. Granted he had time to spare, but no one likes to be kept waiting long, especially one Great Toad Sage.

'_Just my luck...happen to stop by during a meeting._' He crossed his arms and began to drum his fingers on his arm. Deciding it was time for a change in posture, he stood up and chose to lean against the wall next to the door, his eyes closed and head leaned forward, deep in thought. '_I wonder if Aeron and Kakashi's assumptions are correct about this girl._' It was possible that the feelings Naruto had for the Hyūga girl enabled him to combat the Kyūbi to a certain extent, but how far was unknown, he grimly resolved to find out the answer.

Jiraiya was brought from his contemplations as he heard the distant sound of footsteps drawing gradually closer. The noise stopped on the opposite side of the door. '_It's about damn time._' He turned his head slightly as the door opened, revealing one Hiashi Hyūga, with a sour look on.

"You could not have come at a more inopportune time, Jiraiya-sama," Hiashi explained as he walked by the Sannin and promptly sat down at the lone wooden table in the middle of the room, his posture stiff and authoritative. Jiraiya walked to the opposite side and sat with his legs crossed, he rested his right elbow on his thigh and rested his chin on top of his curled fingers with his left arm resting on his other leg, his body leaned forward ever so slightly.

"You Hyūga really need to relax once in a while and drop that pompous attitude, would do you some good," Jiraiya remarked, earning a stern look from his .

"I gave you this audience as a courtesy to your Sannin status, explain your reasons for being here or be off," Hiashi retorted, the last comment hitting a chord.

"Alright, down to business then. I'm going to borrow your eldest daughter for a little trip," he casually stated. The request, or rather demand caused Hiashi's brow to furrow.

"And just why do you need Hinata?"

"For starters, I'm heading out to find and bring back the next Hokage and I will be having certain company with me. Hinata will be coming with me as well to help shed some light on some unanswered questions I have concerning said company," Jiraiya explained. Hiashi mulled it over, his eyes widening slightly as everything clicked together.

"The 'demon' child," Hiashi spat venomously.

"That 'child' is more a man than you ever will be Hiashi," the sage snapped angrily. "Utter one more word about him and you will regret it." Hiashi was taken aback by the defensive nature Jiraiya showed for the blonde, who the village wanted nothing to do with. He coughed to try and defuse the situation, picking his words carefully to not anger the sage further.

"I will have to decline your request to take my daughter with you," he politely informed the Sannin.

"I'm not asking for your permission, Hiashi, I'm telling you that it's going to happen. Already had it approved by the elders, so I suggest you just do as I say."

The two men stared one another down, for several long, intense seconds, before Hiashi conceded. "I will have someone get Hinata's things together for the trip." Hiashi looked at the table, deep in thought.

"Smart move, I'll be waiting at the gate," the sage stated, quickly getting up as the conversation ended and walked to the door.

"One thing before you go, if I may..." Hiashi asked as Jiraiya opened the door. "Why do you feel so strongly for that boy? Jiraiya stood in the doorway, his head tilting back as he stared at the clear, blue sky.

"Because, that kid reminds me of one of my best students," the sage lied. There were only two people in the whole village who knew the truth about Naruto's lineage, Jiraiya himself and Hiruzen Sarutobi, who took that secret with him to the grave. Having answered the question, Jiraiya hastily left Hiashi in the room, taking the quickest way to the front gate as possible. He knew about all the dark secrets that have taken place on the Hyūga compound, the thought made his skin crawl and he wanted to be gone from the place.

* * *

Hinata was shocked to find the state of Naruto's living conditions. The floor was literally covered in an assortment of items; dirty dishes, clothes, empty food containers, scrolls, a variety of ninja tools and nearly everything else had found its way to clutter the floor. Naruto deftly moved around the small room, filling his backpack as he went with necessary items for the trip.

After watching Naruto for a little while, her eyes drifted around to the rest of Naruto's small bedroom. Directly in front of her sat a dresser with a lone radio set atop of it, next to that sat a standing mirror with a television in the corner. To her left was a bookcase with a picture and an alarm close on top with his unmade bed next to it with the single plant in the room tucked into the corner. The lone window was opposite the dresser, overlooking the bed with another closed bookcase to the right of that, with a wooden door across the bed leading out to the railing.

Hinata took a few, short steps forwards right before reaching the clutter on the floor to get a better look out of the window. While gazing out the window at the beautiful, sunshiny day, her vision was irresistibly drawn to the picture on the bookcase. It was a picture of Team Seven, with a gravity defying, silver haired Kakashi standing behind Sakura, with Sasuke on the right and Naruto to the left. Kakashi had a respective hand on each boy's head as Naruto glared at the Uchiha while Sasuke gave an annoyed look.

A smile graced her soft lips while Naruto continued to fumble around his room, filling his pack as he went, oblivious to everything else around him. "Naruto-kun," Hinata softly called, only to have it fall on deaf ears.

"Naruto-kun," she repeated a little louder, still with no indication that the blonde had heard a single word. Hinata surveyed the floor and picked her steps carefully, moving herself closer to the busy boy. Once within arms reach, Hinata put a hand on his shoulder, he dropped the kunai that was in his hand, startled as he turned to look at his female counterpart.

"Oh, Hinata, I forgot you were here," Naruto informed her. "What's up?"

Hinata couldn't help but giggle softly at her crush, "I was wondering if there was anything you would like me to help you with," she replied with an affectionate smile.

Naruto blinked several times before letting his gaze drift around the room, "Umm..." He tried to think of anything he could use help with before returning his vision back on the girl. "I'm almost finished, but I appreciate the offer," he answered with a bright smile.

"Alright, I'll wait for you in the kitchen," Hinata stated, picking her way once again through the clutter to get back to the door leading out of his bedroom. Naruto watched as Hinata left the room, unable to keep his gaze off the gentle sway of her hips as she left him in the room. As the door closed and he was left alone, he stared at a singular spot on the closed door, his mind still holding onto that image. After realizing what was going through his mind, he blushed deeply and busied himself once again to fill his pack to distract himself.

Hinata walked through the little hallway separating the bedroom and kitchen to end up at her destination. To her immediate left was the front door, while directly opposite from her current position was the fridge. To her right was a completely stuffed trashcan and next to that was a sink and counter pressed into the corner with a rice cooker and steamer, both looking new and unused. Opposite of the counter was a lone plant and set in the middle of the room was a table with a single chair set at it.

Surprisingly, the only clutter out of the whole room appeared to be located on the table, which was littered with yet more trash. She glanced towards the trashcan and then back at the table, letting out a resigned sigh, she pulled the top off the can and tied off the top of the bag, proceeding to take the bag to the dumpster in an attempt to help Naruto live in a remotely clean environment.

'_It's hard to believe Naruto can live in such filth...although, he hasn't had anyone to teach him otherwise..._' Hinata immediately stopped in her tracks as she ran that particular thought in her head repeatedly. '_He hasn't had anyone to teach him..._' She felt her eyes start to tear up, remembering just how much Naruto had missed out growing up with no one to care for him.

Resolving to help fix that problem, she quickly traveled the remaining distance to the dumpster, promptly tossing the bag in, then turned sharply on her right foot to return the way she had come. Walking back into Naruto's apartment, she rummaged through the cabinet below the sink, finding a new bag, she placed it into the can and began tossing everything she considered trash into the empty trash bag. Once done, she walked over to the window and opened it, letting in some fresh air. Inhaling a deep breath of the clean air, she turned and started to walk back towards Naruto's room, turning the corner to run into the very person was about to go check on.

Naruto had just finished packing his bag and was on his way out to meet Hinata when the two crashed into each other. Hinata quickly wrapped her arms around Naruto as the blonde threw his arms out, managing to catch himself on the door frame, stopping the two from tumbling on the floor. The Hyūga girl continued to hug her crush as he looked at her, a very confused look plastered on his face.

"Hinata?" Naruto questioned, unsure of what was going on. Hinata looked up at the blonde, he could tell that something was upsetting her, where instead of a usual smile, he was met by a frown marring her beautiful face.

"I'm so sorry Naruto-kun," Hinata muttered as she buried her head into his chest, finding that at that moment, she needed his support.

"Sorry for what?" He pressed, confused as to what triggered this sudden change in his friend. Hinata spoke into his chest, causing each word to become muffled and hard to hear.

"For everything that you've gone through...growing up without things that I take for granted...there's just so much I wish I could do to help yo-" she stopped short as Naruto wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against him.

"It's alright Hinata.." he softly told her with a bittersweet smile, "If I didn't grow up the way I did...I may have been a completely different person and I never would have created the family that I have now. There's Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, all my friends, Ero-Sennin, Nī-san and Nē-chan, but most importantly...you," Naruto looked down at the mop of midnight blue hair pressed into his chest, his last statement causing Hinata to tilt her head back and look into his love filled eyes.

Oblivious to their surroundings, neither one of them heard a particular Sannin come through the opened window to find the scene of young love. Being the man he was, he grinned mischievously and silently crept over to the lovebirds. "So, I'm not missing anything am I?" Jiraiya lewdly commented, startling both kids, causing them to immediately separate, Hinata all but ran to the window in hopes that the cool air would help her reddened cheek while Naruto glared at the old pervert angrily.

"WHAT'S WITH YOU AND GIVING ME A HEART ATTACK, ERO-SENNIN!?" Naruto shouted.

"I TOLD YOU TO QUIT CALLING ME THAT!" Jiraiya snapped back.

"How the hell are you even in here, you didn't come through the front door?!"

Jiraiya gave a playful smirk before pointing back over his shoulder, "The window was open, so I came in," he casually answered. "Which reminds me, Hinata wasn't it?" the sudden question bringing Hinata from her thoughts as she turned towards the Toad Sage.

"Yes?"she hesitantly replied. Jiraiya let a bag slip off his shoulder and held it out to her, which she immediately recognized it as a Hyūga travel bag.

"You're coming with us on our endeavor to find the next Hokage, already have it arranged with Kurenai and your father so no need to worry," the sage informed her.

She tentatively reached out and took the offered bag, '_My father agreed?_' The simple statement shocked her to her core, her father usually never agreed to anything where it concerned his daughter.

"This is awesome! This will be our first mission together!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, causing Hinata to blush lightly.

"Alright you two, if your quite done, lets head on out," Jiraiya barked, opened the door and proceeded outside.

"Yosh!" Naruto followed closely behind, stopping long enough at the door to glance over at Hinata. "You coming?" Hinata looked at the blonde, smiling slightly as she nodded her head, slipping the bag onto her back and followed, the three making their way through the busy streets to their destination, the front gate leading out of the village.

* * *

Aeron watched, mesmerized as she took the mask from her face, revealing a person that he wished he would never see again. Her thick, pitch black locks covered her shoulder and framed her face, dark brown piercing eyes that gazed into his own dark blue orbs, the simple connection awakening many locked memories.

He tightened his hand around the shaft of his spear, needing something, ANYTHING, to help clear his mind. "Do I still have this much of an effect on you, Aeron?" The woman asked, a mischievous smile evident on her plump lips. To the trained eye, the slightest hint of a tremble could be detected, but Aeron was in no such state.

"More like I'm suppressing the urge to kill you right now, Ryoko," Aeron growled, angrily glaring at his ex-wife. "What are **you** doing here, where is Akemi?"

"She's staying with my parents, these Anbu found your location and have been keeping tabs on you and called for my immediate arrival to help with this matter," she informed her ex. "Even after all this time apart, you still care for her."

"She's my daughter, why the hell wouldn't I care about her?"

"Didn't seem like it was all that hard for you to leave us behind."

"You and the village made it unbearable for me to stay even if I wanted to!"

"ENOUGH!" the leader shouted, causing all eyes to focus on him. "Aeron Kyoufu, you will come with us back to the village, even if we must do so by force. In the best interest of both parties, lower your spear and willingly give yourself up," he demanded.

'_**Aeron,**_' called a voice inside the mans head, upon hearing the call, he closed his eyes as he heard the voice out. '_**You really plan on doing this?**_'

'_Not like their giving me many options, they seem pretty adamant on taking me back, you of all people know I never want to go back to that place,_' he replied to the voice, earning a gravely chuckle.

'_**I do, but give them one last time to leave in peace. I know you don't want to hurt Ryoko if only because of Akemi, if they refuse, then at least they were given the opportunity. On top of that, Ryoko doesn't seem too interested in a fight either, you need to calm down and notice the minute details of this group,' **_the voice implored.

Taking its advice, he took a big steadying breath before opening his eyes and looking at the group with a calm temperament. Looking at his ex, he noticed the ever so slight tremble of her hands, the way her eyes moved, the occasional twitch of an eyebrow. She didn't want this, he knew that now, she never wanted to see him again as much as he never wanted to see her. Finishing his search of her, he looked over the other four members, the three men made no indications that they were for or against this fight.

With no information to be garnered from them, he set his sights on the other woman who had threatened him earlier. She wanted this fight, her body was tense, fists clenched tightly, the occasional shuffle of her feet, a bittersweet smile found its way onto Aeron's face. He knew what the outcome was going to be when he gave them the choice, but he had to sate his 'alter egos' request.

"For starters, this isn't a spear," he started, looking up at the blade of the eight foot weapon, admiring it's craftsmanship. "It's my 'Walking Stick' and the only place I will be leaving it today would be in your cold, dead corpse. As for me going back with you to that piece of shit you call a village, it's not happening, turn around and leave if you value your lives," he finished, already pooling the chakra he was going to need for what was to come next.

Ryoko sighed, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Still as vulgar as alw-" she started to comment before being interrupted by the other woman of the group.

"I'll kill you for keeping me away from my family!" The woman shouted while running forward, throwing a hand quickly behind her back to grab a kunai from her pouch. The two other men of the group hurried to stop her while the captain looked at the man before him.

"You leave us no choice but to take you in by force," he said while reaching back for his own kunai.

'_You happy now Isobū?_' Aeron asked his alter ego, expecting a forthcoming reply, only to receive silence. Aeron shrugged and made a simple seal while closing his eyes. The air became thick around his body, his own blue chakra became visible, swirling around his body as he concentrated on the task at hand. The blue chakra was soon joined by a powerful red chakra, which also began swirling around his body, the two mixing together to create shades of purple now and again in the swirling vortex.

The five Kirigakure ninja's eyes were unable to pierce the wall of chakra that was surrounding Aeron's person, thus they were unable to see the changes taking place to his body. Just as suddenly as the chakra storm began, it ended abruptly, leaving a very changed Aeron in it's place.

Where once his skin was lightly tanned, was now pallid and gray with shell like plates overlapping one another atop of his arms, shoulders and back. Spikes adorned each individual plate leading all the way down to his waist, wildly waving behind him in plain view were three long, plated tails. His eyes sunk deeper into his skull, he slowly opened his eyes to reveal that his iris's had turned a bright yellow and the cornea changed into a red color with a ripple effect.

Aeron lolled his head around, making several cracking sounds and rolled his shoulders. "Just to let you guys know..." The three tailed hanyou informed the five staring him, only able to see the fear in Ryoko's eyes, which he assumed was in the other four since none of them made a move, even the one woman had stopped struggling against her comrades. He gave a slight nod toward the masked woman, moving his toothpick around to the other side of his mouth and clamped down with his teeth, "She dies first," he finished, hands working in a blur, running through various hand signs.

The five quickly jumped back away from Aeron as he finished, sending chakra into his tails, "**Suiton: Mizutamari Gōben.**" The plates along his tails shifted slightly revealing the soft flesh underneath, speckled with tiny holes. His tails held still in the air as water began to pour rapidly from every single hole on his tails, quickly flooding the area. Thinking now was their best chance, the two men without weapons reached back for kunai and all four of the masked Anbu threw them at different intervals.

Aeron saw them coming, quickly shooting his right hand out, he grasped the shaft of his lance and pulled it in front of his body, with both hands, he began to swiftly spin the weapon, effectively blocking every kunai before any got near his body. Letting go with his left hand, he swung the weapon high over his head then slammed it down into the ground next to him.

He began to run through hand signs again as the masked woman also ran through her own set of hand signs. Aeron finished first, once again grabbing his weapon as steam pushed rapidly out of his tails instead of water. Bringing the tails together behind him, he tucked the lance against his side, "**Jōton: Suishin Suberi.**" The steam erupted all at once out of his tails, propelling him forward across the water straight towards his intended target, who was still running through hand signs.

He could almost visualize the expression of terror on her face as he quickly closed the distance, moving far too fast for her get out of the way of the incoming threat. He barreled through her companions with her being his primary focus, she moved just enough at the last second as the lance pierced her side, the curving blades slipped between bone and ripped through flesh, the tips of all three blade appearing out of her back.

The woman grabbed the shaft of the weapon as Aeron lifted her up into the air, touching the butt of the weapon to the ground to hold it up, pressed between his bicep and pectoral muscles. Bringing his hands together, he ran through more seals as quickly as he could, his focus drawn in on his singular task, not in the least bit worried by any attack from the other four. As he finished, he gripped the shaft of the weapon with his right hand and began pouring chakra into the shaft, "**Katon: Chikara Tensou.**"

The blade of the weapon burst into flames, the unfortunate woman atop of the lance screamed as the fire coursed it's way through her body, setting her flesh ablaze. Her screams echoed throughout the forest, frightening the many inhabitants that call its many nooks and crannies home while only adding to the psychological damage as the other four ninja could only watch as their squad mate was burned alive.

The woman's smouldered body twitched slightly as Aeron looked up at the corpse. "I gave you a chance and you threw it away," Aeron sighed and closed his eyes, lifting the lance and rotating it to the right. His left hand caught the shaft near the butt of the weapon when he proceeded to thrust it into the air, immediately jerking back to free the blade from the body adorning its tip. The body fell in a clump on the ground, steam emanating from the corpse as the water fell over the cinders still burning.

He turned his head to the right, opening his eyes as he looked over his shoulder at the ninja behind him. "Who's next?"

The leader turned to Ryoko, "I want you to do exactly as we planned," he informed her, this drawing a wide eyed stare from the woman.

"Are you crazy?" she spouted, unsure if he was being serious or not.

"There is no other way for us to determine if it will work or not, now follow the order," he commanded, leaving no room for discussion.

Ryoko bit her lip to stop any retort, knowing it was pointless. Reaching back with both hands, she pulled two kunai out and gripped their hilts tightly in her hands. Aeron started to turn as Ryoko charged, the '_splash_' of her feet hitting the water repeatedly as she closed the distance. Aeron brought his lance up in defense as Ryoko lunged forward, one kunai high with the other coming in low.

He angled his weapon for the incoming attack, twisting the lance to catch the two kunai and throw them wide of their intended target, the high kunai scrapping across a shoulder plate as the lower one cut across his hip. He grimaced from pain coursing from the wound, but had no time to think about it as Ryoko pressed on, thrusting and swinging kunai at every conceivable angle with Aeron doing his best to deflect the blows, the '_clang_' of the weapons connecting sounded out repeatedly. The lance however, was the slower of the two weapons, earning Aeron nick after nick from the two kunai, all superficial cuts.

Movement behind Ryoko caught his attention, the three male ninja were all running towards Ryoko's back, kunai at the ready. They all jumped into the air in unison, weapons in front of them with the intent it seemed to impale the woman in the back. '_Shit,_' Aeron deflected the last attack from Ryoko and let go of his lance with his left hand, suddenly lunging forward. The move caught Ryoko by surprise as his left hand moved to her right side and powerfully pushed her out of the way. Aeron spun around, exposing his thick, plated back the men.

The three male ninja's kunai all clashed against Aeron's shell, the men placed hands and feet on the smooth surface and went to resume the attack, only to be grabbed by Aeron's tails. The limbs coiled around their bodies as they swung back and forth, letting go to launch the men around the field. All three slid across the water as Aeron ran through more hand signs, the plates along his tails shifted again as chakra pooled into the thrashing limbs, steam expelling from the holes along the flesh once more.

"**Jōton: Jōki Bunshin no Jutsu,**" the steam began to solidify and take shape, creating an identical image of the hanyou Aeron. The copy took off towards Ryoko as Aeron turned back towards the male ninja. Ryoko was just getting up when the copy made it to her, already running through hand signs on route to her location, "Take a deep breath," the clone stated while looking down at the woman. "**Suiton: ****Suirō no Jutsu,**" water began to pool around Ryoko, lifting her up towards the hand that the clone had extended towards her.

"NO!" she managed to shout before taking the clones advice, inhaling deeply her last breath of air as the water formed a perfect sphere around her body, holding her suspended in the air, only connected to single hand.

The leader looked towards the clone and the captured Ryoko while the other two men glanced at one another. "There is nothing we can do about it, we have to try and take him out as we are," the leader stated, running through hand signs. Aeron recognized the signs and went into his own, knowing well what was to be coming his way. "**Suiton:**** Mizurappa,**" the masked ninja built chakra up into his diaphragm, taking a large inhale, he moved his mask up just enough to uncover his mouth, his cheeks puffed out as he expelled a jet of water out of his mouth towards a still signing Aeron.

"**Katon: Endan no Jutsu,**" Aeron built up his own chakra into his diaphragm, his cheeks puffed out as he expertly expelled a stream of fire towards the incoming water. The two elements collided in the air, neither fire nor water giving an inch, creating a wall of steam as the two hissed against one another.

Aeron stopped the jutsu and moved out of the way as the jet of water rushed past him, taking the opportunity to run towards the steam. Once inside the cloud, he knew it wasn't going to last long without him doing something, he expertly ran through several signs while taking a deep breath, filling his lungs with chakra and the thick steam, "**Jōton: Kiri.**" Aeron expelled a steady jet of steam from his mouth, the chakra enhanced steam mixing with the normal steam, causing the cloud to become dependent upon Aeron's chakra.

The leader motioned towards the two men, indicating one go to the left and one go through the steam as he went to right. The three split, running across the water with weapons drawn as they ran their intended directions, the two on the outside watching their team mate as he vanished into the steam cloud. The two ninja finished running around the cloud to see around the other side, only to discover Aeron was nowhere to be seen.

The two looked at one another and then at the steam cloud, waiting for any confirmation from their remaining squad mate.

The lone ninja in the cloud found it hard to breath in the thick steam, his vision was severely affected, only enabling him to see a few feet in any direction. He kept running, hoping to eventually clear this obstacle and help his team to bring in the wanted fugitive Coming to the halfway point, he felt a presence in the cloud with him, he stopped and looked around his person, weapon in front of him. Glancing back and forth, trying to use his other senses in an attempt to locate what was in the cloud with him, but he was unable to detect the figure that gradually appeared behind him.

Aeron stood behind the man who was desperately trying to find whatever was in the steam with him, causing Aeron to smirk. To help the man out, he lightly tapped him on his left shoulder, the masked ninja visibly stiffened, slowly turning his head to look over his shoulder. The ninja saw Aeron and began to turn, only to have a fist connect with the mask covering his face, shattering into hundreds of pieces, the sudden force of the punch jerked the poor man's head around rapidly, effectively snapping his neck in the process.

Aeron grabbed the body before it could fall to splash into the water, giving him the element of surprise over the two ninja waiting outside for their missing man. Aeron whipped a tail around to pick the up corpse by the leg, dangling it in the air behind him as he steadily walked closer to the edge of the steam. His eyes piercing through the steam, he located the two shinobi waiting on the outside. He tightened his grip on his lance, Gunshin no mori, and whipped the tail holding the corpse towards the leader of the group, charging out towards the other man.

'_What is taking him so long..._' As much as he didn't want to think it, he was afraid he already knew the answer to his own question. Just as he finished the thought, a dark shape came flying out at him, eyes widened as the projectile plowed into him, launching him through the air to skip across the water. Once coming to a halt, he untangled himself from the object, to discover that it was his missing ninja. He looked up and over to his other team mate to see that he was being pressed by the three tailed hanyou. The masked ninja was hard pressed by Aeron who repeatedly thrust or swung his lance at the man, who managed to block or deflect it with a single kunai.

The repeated attacks taking their toll on the shinobi as his guards came slower and slower, one of the lance's three blades scoring cuts here and there across his body. With his arms going numb from the relentless assault, he disengaged and attempted to back pedal, a move that Aeron had anticipated. As the ninja backed up, Aeron stepped forward with him, his spear cocked back and ready as Aeron thrust forward. The man was only able to stare into Aeron's hate filled eyes as the blades pierced his neck, the sharpened blade cutting through the flesh and bone.

The two stared at one another as the life left the ninja's body, his head rolled off his shoulder, having been severed from his body with the single thrust from Aeron's weapon. Aeron pulled back on his weapon as blood gushed from the wound at the man's neck, the body began to fall forward until Aeron thrust into the body once more, holding the corpse up with his weapon.

With both hands on the shaft, Aeron turned sharply while swinging his weapon in an upward motion, reaching the apex, he halted the motion, launching the corpse in the direction of the last living member of the Anbu squad. The body flew through the air to land several feet away from the leader of the group, who glanced back and forth between the bodies of his comrades.

"This is what you get for coming at me, I gave you the choice and still you choose to not leave,"Aeron stated, slowly walking towards the last Anbu member.

"I was just doing as I was requested, as WE were requested," the man replied, working his way back up onto his feet, his hands clenched tightly. "The mission will continue until the last of us is dead, so until you kill me, Aeron Kyoufu, I am obligated to bring you in, even if that means my death, then so be it." He reached back once more, slipping his hands into his pouch, grabbing onto a kunai with each hand.

He suddenly started running towards Aeron, quickly pulling his hands out and firing kunai one by one right behind each other until he had one left, gripping it tightly in his left hand. Aeron twisted his spear back and forth, deflecting each kunai aimed at him, Aeron dropped his weapon once the shinobi threw his second to last kunai, running through one more set of hand signs, surging chakra into his hands in preparation of his jutsu.

The captain lunged forward, kunai in front of him as he went to plunge the weapon into Aeron's eye. The weapon inched closer and closer as it was about to pierce the eye, it was stopped by an unseen force. The captain's eyes widened as he tried to push the weapon forward, but to no avail. Aeron finished the signing, putting his left hand on the captain respective shoulder and put the right against his chest.

"I may have Isobū's weaknesses, but that doesn't mean I haven't found a way to counter it," Aeron called chakra around his face to reveal the invisible layer of steam that coated his features, stopping the kunai from moving any further towards he vulnerable eye. "This is my '**Yuge Mekakushi,**' an invisible steam mask that I always have on to protect my weakness, you really should have done your homework before trying to tango with me," Aeron casually remarked as he began to push the chakra that was built up in his arms towards the hand located against the captain's chest.

"This is the end for you however, "**Jōton: Naibu Kika no jutsu.**" Red chakra began swirling around Aeron's hand as he pumped steam into the man's body, the captain convulsed and let out a blood curdling scream. Steam began pouring from every opening it could find, his mouth, ears, nose as the water inside of his body began to slowly evaporate.

The clone watching the scene, looked at the woman and dispelled the '**Suirō no Jutsu**', catching Ryoko as she started to fall to the ground. She coughed heavily, breathing in the much needed oxygen to fill her deprived lungs, the clone watched her intently as Aeron continued pumping the captain full of steam. Organs began to fail one by one as the moisture was effectively sucked out of them and released into the air via the steam exiting the man's mouth and leaving the only way they could with the mask covering his face, the eye holes.

The captain convulsed several more times as the last of the moisture in his body was forcibly removed by the steam, leaving only a shriveled husk of the man it once was. With the fight over, Aeron cut off the steady stream of chakra he was using to keep the water below his feet. Once done, the large amount of water began to seep into the earth, leaving the landscape as it was before the sudden flood.

Aeron dropped the husk with a sickening 'plop' as it hit the ground, bending down to retrieve his spear, he was assaulted by a wave of pain coursing through every fiber of his body. He clenched his right fist tightly as his whole right arm visibly shook from the excruciating pain racking his body. He fell forward somehow managing to catch himself with his left hand before landing completely on the ground.

'_**You really shouldn't have used that jutsu, Aeron, you know that you suffer some of the side effects as well whenever your use it,**_' Isobū chastised, feeling the same pain Aeron was going through.

'_I don't want to hear it, Ryoko saw it, so hopefully this will stop the hunt Kirigakure has on me,_" he remarked to the three tailed turtle. He 'sensed' Isobū shrug in his mind, forcing a chuckle as the pain subsided, he reached out with his right hand to grasp the familiar shaft of his lance. He lifted it and stuck the butt of the weapon into the ground, using its solid foundation to help himself up.

Once back onto his feet, he looked over at Ryoko who was being held by his clone, her wide, terror filled eyes watching him as he began his steady walk over to her, using his spear as a 'walking stick' with each step. As Aeron stepped in front of his ex, he dispelled the bunshin jutsu, the clone dissipating into the air.

"Let me get ONE thing straight, I'm not letting you live because I give a damn about you," Aeron started, staring into her brown eyes. "I'm not letting you live because I want you to go back to Kirigakure and give them word of what just happened here today. The only reason I'm letting you live today is because you may have taken Akemi's father out of her life," Aeron couldn't keep his composure as he thought about his daughter, whom he hasn't seen for eight years.

His eyes started to well up as a single tear crept it's way down his ashen skin, "I will be damned if I take her mother away from her as well, so get the hell out of here. Tell those bastards in Kirigakure that if they continue this pursuit after me, all they will find...is death."

"Aeron...I..." She stopped as a rush of memories coursed through her mind, all of them about man who stood before her. She closed her eyes tightly so that Aeron wouldn't notice her own eyes welling up, giving a short nod, she turned and ran off into the woods, beginning the long journey back to Kirigakure no Sato, uncertain if she honestly still hated the man and what he had become.

Aeron watched as Ryoko disappeared past his sight, breathing a heavy sigh as he called forth Isobū's chakra, his wounds hissed in protest as they were forcibly healed. Aeron was contemplating burning the bodies, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw something burst through the brush, three something's to be exact.

"Hey! What the hell is going on here!?" shouted a familiar voice. Aeron opened his eyes in shock as he turned toward the familiar, orange dressed boy.

"Shit..."

* * *

**Justu Glossary:**

**Water: **

**Mizutamari Gouben (Puddle Pooling) - Channeling chakra into his tails, Aeron can emit large amounts of water through the holes located under the plates of his tails. The water is directly connected to Aeron's chakra, so long as he continues to channel chakra into it, the water will not disappear. **

**Suirou no jutsu (Water Prison) - Suirou no Jutsu is a Ninjutsu that utilizes water to imprison an opponent. The ninja forms the necessary hand seals which causes the water to form around the target into a spherical prison which only allows for limited movement. The ninja must keep their body touching the water prison to maintain its existence. If the contact is broken, the water falls away and their target is released.**

******Mizurappa (Violent Water Wave) -Mizurappa is a Ninjutsu utilizing the Water Element. After forming the needed handseals, a ninja will expel a strong jet of water at his opponent.****  
**

**Fire:**

**Endan no jutsu (Firebullet) - This jutsu allows Aeron to emit a jet of fire from his mouth.**

**Chikara Tensou (Energy/Power Transfer) - A jutsu that allows Aeron to transfer his Fire nature into an object of his choosing, namely his spear, Gunshin no mori.**

**Steam:**

**Yuge Mekakushi (Vapor Mask/Veil) - Aeron concentrates chakra and steam around his face, creating an invisible steam mask that protects his vulnerable eyes from nearly all attacks.**

**Naibu Kika no jutsu (Internal Vaporization) - This jutsu is a double sided sword. When Aeron uses the jutsu, he pushes steam into the body of his opponent, slowly evaporating the water inside of their bodies, turning their bodies into shriveled husks. Upon finishing the jutsu, Aeron himself suffers some of the effects to a certain extent, causing a tremendous amount of pain.**

**Kiri (Fog) - Channeling chakra into his lungs, Aeron creates steam inside of him body to expel it out of his mouth, creating a thick fog that Aeron is able to control, changing the density and temperature to make the cloud deadly to all but him.**

**Suishin Suberi (Propulsion Gliding) - Aeron's tails expel a large amount of steam, allowing him to glide across water at a much faster rate than on ground. Used in conjunction with other jutsu.**

**Jouki Bunshin no jutsu (Steam Clone) - Using the steam around him, Aeron is able to create a clone of himself out of steam.**


	10. Kyoufu Aeron

**A/N: Yo, wassup. So, chapter 10, fun stuff. Sad that after this many chapters, I've only gotten the small amount of feedback from a few readers, most of them people who helped to set me on this path of writing. Soulfistx, just want to say no matter what I say about you, you really are a great friend and I do appreciate all the help that you've given me up to this point and I hope that I will eventually get up to the level your at in writing. Sadstoryteller, I don't know where the hell your at, but you were my first reviewer ever that helped to boost my confidence to continue writing this story and I have to thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. Slicer, if it wasn't for you, I probably would have never met Soul and got to the level of writing that I have because of him and for that you have my thanks.**

**I will say this though, I've come across stories that are written a lot worse than mine, make less sense than mine and are just out right bad, and yet, they get more feedback than mine. Which I will say it kind of a let down to see that, which makes me beg the question, what am I doing wrong? It may be bad luck as Soul tells me and I just haven't found the right readers who will give me the feedback I want or deserve. Who knows, but I will continue to write this story for myself and my good friend Soul, who likes the story, god only knows why, and hope that one day, I get the readers that love the story as much as I do.**

**With my little rant done, I hope you all enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

The sun shone high in the clear, blue sky, with not a cloud in sight. Birds happily chirped in testament to the beautiful day as the other inhabitants went about their day foraging for food or shelter from the suns rays. A very soft '_clang_' of metal could be heard echoing throughout the land, too distant to pay the sound any heed. Yet there were three who listened intently to those sounds, curious as to what they could be.

"Hmm" Jiraiya closed his eyes as he listened to the rhythmic tapping sound. It was too far off for him to make out exactly what it was, but it was familiar enough to nag at the back of his mind.

"Jiraiya-sama, what could it possibly be?" Asked a slightly worried Hinata. The noise had put Jiraiya on edge, which in turn, transferred to the two teens with him. The Toad Sage's brow furrowed with concentration, tuning out his two traveling companions to focus on the task at hand. Suddenly, Jiraiya opened his eyes, realizing that he had in his company, a user of the Byakugan.

"Hinata, can you use your Byakugan in that direction to see what the noise is?" He asked, pointing in the direction he assumed was the source.

"Hai," she replied, closing her eyes as she called forth the required chakra to activate her Kekkei Genkai. "**Byakugan.**" The veins pulsed out around her eyes as she opened them, peering off into the direction Jiraiya indicated. She concentrated as hard as she could, doing her best to not disappoint the two men with her. Her conviction paid off as she came across a grizzly scene.

She gasped softly, bringing a hand over her mouth as she watched the fight between ninja that she did not recognize and some kind of turtle-like monster. She watched at the creature, holding some sort of weapon, was attacking one of the masked ninja, hard pressed to bring up some sort of defense against its powerful and relentless attacks. She watched, mesmerized as the masked ninja's arms came slower and slower in his defense to block against the terrible weapon, blocking one last attack before jumping back in an attempt to give himself some room.

The creature had other plans however, as it jumped forward with him, arms cocked back before thrusting its weapon forward. She couldn't look away. She couldn't bring herself to close her eyes as she watched the ninja's flesh get cut cleanly through, his head rolling off of his shoulder.

"Hinata! What is it!?" Naruto asked loudly, the familiar voice bringing her out of her terrified state as she looked over at the blonde. The fear still evident in her lavender eyes. Gulping, she tried to calm herself long enough to explain just what exactly she had seen.

"There is...some kind of creature in that direction, it's fighting some ninja that I don't recognize. They're losing badly..." She hesitantly explained, not wanting to recall the very vivid images she had just seen.

"Naruto, Hinata," Jiraiya called, waiting until they both looked at him with their full attention. "We're going to go out there and I'm going to deal with it, it's too close to the village for me to just leave it alone. If things get too dicey, I want the two of you to run and report what you saw to the village, do you understand?" The sage questioned, his gaze primarily set upon Naruto.

"Are you kidding me? I'm going to he-" Naruto stopped short, interrupted by a shouting Jiraiya.

"This isn't the time for heroics Naruto! I have no idea what in the world this 'creature' is or if I will even be able to defeat it, but it's far too close to the village for us to pay it no heed. I want you to promise to me that if things turn bad, you will run to the village and spread the word and get them ready for anything. Do you understand?" He barked, knowing the boy meant well.

Naruto was taken aback by the sudden change in his usually laid back sensei. He manged a nod in confirmation. "Good, then let's go." With that, the three took off in the direction of the fight, jumping from branch to branch to hasten their way along.

Hinata occasionally glanced at Naruto, who was staring off, lost in thought. She frowned slightly, hoping that Naruto wasn't taking Jiraiya's earlier comments too close to heart. Then they heard the terrible wail. The sound washed over them with bone-shivering intensity, all three stopping to collect themselves as the scream continued on.

"We'd better hurry," ordered a less affected Jiraiya, as he took off at a faster pace than previously set. Hinata and Naruto managed to shake off the icy feeling creeping down their spines before catching up with the sage. The screaming continued on for several, long minutes before coming to an abrupt end, leaving the three with an ominous silence emanating throughout the forest.

"We're almost there..." Hinata softly informed the group, earning a determined look from Naruto while Jiraiya forged on ahead, giving her only the slightest of nods in confirmation. Upon landing on the outskirts of the field, they discovered a total of four corpses littering the clearing. With the presence of bodies, the three ninja immediately went into hiding.

Jiraiya's keen eyes were able to pick up distinct clues as to how they were killed, helping him to better gauge just what he might be going up against. The two closest bodies to them were fairly close to one another, one had no distinguishing marks as to just how the man had died, while the other corpse had its head cleanly severed and three large cuts in its torso.

Not garnering much information from the two bodies, the sage looked off to the next corpse, which intrigued the worldly sannin. The body looked shrunken and twisted, the clothes and mask hiding any other clues that would have allowed him to collect any other information. The furthest and last body gave him the most information out of the four, having been completely cooked by what he could only guess was a katon.

As he started to look away from the last body, a just barely visible puddle of water caught his attention. '_Hmm, that's odd. It hasn't rained in this area in several days and judging from the masks and clothing on the bodies, I can assume they are Kirigakure Anbu, so any of them could have known suiton._' Jiraiya could only let out a heavy sigh, running through all the information given to him through observation. '_All I have to go on is that he will be able to use katon, guess it's better than nothing.'_

With his assessment finished, he decided it was time to look at his opponent. The creature had its back toward him, allowing the sage to note the the turtle-like shell across its back, but the biggest thing to stick out above all else, were the three tails freely waving in the air. '_No way...is that?_' The suddenly familiar creature began to turn, only confirming Jiraiya's guess. Naruto burst through the brush towards the being before them, immediately bringing the sage from any further contemplation.

"Dammit Naruto," he annoyingly grumbled, long ago knowing that the youth wasn't going to keep to his word. Jiraiya followed after the blonde with Hinata behind him.

"Hey! What the hell is going on here!?" Naruto loudly shouted, staring at the turning three tailed creature. Naruto immediately took off towards it, quickly forming the necessary seal as he did, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Six Naruto were soon running at the beast, who simply stared wide eyed at the blonde.

'_Why can't he ever listen to me...I guess Aeron will have to handle this._' Jiraiya turned and looked at Hinata, who stood transfixed as Naruto closed the distance to the hanyou Aeron. "Hinata, don't worry, Naruto isn't in any danger. Look closely at his opponent," he implored, a smile forming on his lips. Hinata glanced up at the sage, curious, she cast her vision once again on the creature. With a closer inspection, she began to notice very familiar things about Naruto's opponent.

"Is that?" She gasped, finding it hard to believe that it was the same person she thought it was.

"Mhm, I'll explain later," he assured her, focusing now on the fight that was about to take place.

Aeron watched the incoming clones, letting out a deep sigh. '_Guess it was only a matter of time before it got out...I hope he can take it well._' Deciding to see how far Naruto had come along as a ninja, Aeron brought his arm up and stabbed his spear into the ground to ensure he didn't use it against the blonde. With his spear secured, he brought his arms up and in front of him in preparation of a hand to hand fight.

Aeron waited as a Naruto came within distance, a momentum fueled fist swinging forward. Not knowing which was the real and which was a fake, Aeron had to act carefully. He caught the incoming limb with his own hand before placing a swift jab to the Naruto's exposed mid section. The clone went up in smoke, freeing his own hand to continue with his defense. He twisted his right arm to deflect another balled fist while bringing up his left leg, blocking a low coming fist with his knee and twisting his leg slightly to the left to stop a foot with his shin. The last clone jumped over the others, attacking from on high, extending a leg out for a fierce kick, only to get caught by Aeron's free left hand.

Seeing his opportunity, with Aeron's hands and leg occupied, Naruto ran down the middle between the clones, towards Aeron's vulnerable mid-section, arm curled back and ready to strike. Aeron watched Naruto closed the distance, a slight smile forming on the corner of his lips. '_You've certainly have improved, Naruto, but you still have much to learn._' Aeron whipped his three tails over his shoulders to strike at the clones occupying his other limbs. With his hands and leg free, Aeron sent his right hand out to catch Naruto's still cocked back fist. He ducked under the arm and twisted around behind Naruto, bringing the boy's arm behind him while bringing his left arm over Naruto's shoulder, pressing a spike plated fist against his neck.

"I think that's enough, Otouto," Aeron commented, slowly letting go of the boy. Naruto started to respond, until his mind wrapped around a single word, a word that only two people ever called him. Wide-eyed, Naruto slowly turned around and looked at the figure before him.

"N-Nī-san?" Naruto asked, a slight tremble evident in his voice. Aeron smiled as he formed a seal, closing his eyes as he released his hanyou form. The plates along his body and the tails were seemingly absorbed into his body, his skin once again returning to its healthy tan while his yellow eyes changed back into their radiant blue.

"What the...how the..." Naruto stammered, his mind completely befuddled as he tried to make sense of the whole situation. "JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?" He finally managed while pointing an accusing finger at the man. Aeron couldn't stop the grin that formed on his face at the blonde's reaction.

"It seems that you have some explaining to do, Aeron," Jiraiya remarked, casually walking up to the two men with a curious Hinata following suit.

With a sigh of defeat, Aeron closed his eyes, "I suppose you're right, but where to start..." Aeron tilted his head back, bringing his right hand up to lightly tap his chin whilst deep in thought.

"How about starting where you lied to me," Naruto angrily stated, a deep scowl on his face while staring Aeron down. The one thing Naruto hated above all else was being lied to by those he cared about and to find one of the few beloved people in his life was nothing but a lie, cut a wound deeper than any blade ever could. Aeron opened his eyes to look at the glaring Naruto, to see the blonde look at him in such a way ached his heart. He never wanted to lie to the boy, but there was no way around it.

Hinata walked over to Naruto and gently put a hand on his shoulder, causing the blonde to look at her. Her presence visibly calmed him, the tension in his body seemingly vanished by the simple gesture of friendship. However, the pain was still evident in his cerulean orbs when he set his eyes back on Aeron, but it was a start. Hinata turned to Aeron, who gave her an appreciative nod.

"As far as what I've told the two of you, most of it was true, but I suppose I should start even further than that to the beginning I guess," he explained, moving the toothpick around in his mouth. "You're probably going to want to sit, we may be here awhile." Taking his own advice, Aeron sat on the hard ground with his legs crossed, adjusting himself to get as comfortable as possible. Although he already knew the story behind the former Kirigakure resident, Jiraiya sat down in respect of his friend. Hinata sat down next, leaving a standing Naruto, who reluctantly took his seat after Hinata gently grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm going to start with a little back story before we get to me, will help clear up some things," Aeron explained. "Just like in Konoha, Kirigakure no Sato has many clans with Kekkei Genkai. One such clan had a nature Kekkei Genkai that allowed the manipulation and combination of katon, suiton and doton. By combining suiton and katon, a clan member was able to create futton, while merging katon with doton, they would make yōton. One day, a child was born with a mutation to the their natural Kekkei Genkai. Instead of combining suiton with katon, they did the opposite, creating something entirely new. This new element was called jōton."

The two teens processed the information given to them, or at least one attempted and failed. "I don't get it, how can you mix together suiton and katon to make two new jutsu?" Naruto questioned. Aeron stared blankly at the blonde, then cast his gaze on the Hyūga beside him. Judging by the look he received, she had a better understanding, but was just as confused. Letting out a sigh, Aeron went onto explain.

"When one combines suiton with katon, futton is the product of the two. Better example would be taking a pot of water and putting it over a fire, what happens?"

"It begins to boil," Hinata stated, drawing a nod from Aeron.

"Correct. Now for jōton, your mixing katon with suiton. Example would be having a fire and dumping water on it, this creates steam." Aeron glanced once again at the blonde, whose eyes were closed in thought. "Don't pop a blood vessel thinking about it too hard, I know intelligence isn't your strong suit," he playfully remarked. Naruto was in such a state of contemplation that he almost didn't catch the insult. Almost.

"Who are you calling stupid?!" Naruto shrieked suddenly, startling the unfortunate Hinata sitting next to him.

"That's enough you two," Jiraiya stated, drawing everyone's attention. "If you two keep on like this, we will be here all day." Aeron chuckled softly, then cleared his throat before continuing on with his story.

"As I was saying, there was mutation, none thought too much about it until more and more newborns showed this mutation. The worry of contaminating the 'gene pool' forced the clan to take action. They created a branch family and putting every jōton user in it, with the condition to never have any type of physical relations with a member from the main family. The mutation was a rarity and the chances for branch members to give birth to a child with a strong connection to the mutation was very rare, while main family members had a higher chance to give birth to a child with the mutation, but it was still a rare occurrence."

"Because of the low chances of more jōton users being born, the branch family was kept fairly small, usually ten to twenty people at any given time. Then one day, a child was born with a very strong connection to the jōton style. That child is sitting before you now," Aeron concluded, a smug grin working his way across his face. Both Naruto and Hinata's eyes shot open upon hearing the information, both glancing to Jiraiya, who simply nodded in confirmation.

"I think a demonstration is in order," Aeron concluded, quickly standing up and walking a short distance away. The three watched as Aeron's experienced hands ran through a series of seals, concentrating chakra into his arms. '_Tori, Tastu, I, U, Mi, Ne, Hitsuji, Tatsu._' Wisps of his blue chakra started to appear around his arms as he reached the last seal, "**Jōton:Chikyuu Rikisen!**"

Aeron clapped his hands together before falling into a kneeling position, quickly placing his hands onto the hard earth before him as he began to pump chakra infused water through the ground. As the dirt became saturated and loose, Aeron pressed his hands into the earth while continuing to pump water into it. The water snaked its way through the earth until it had gone far enough for his liking, sending a surge of chakra through his arms to super-heat the water while willing the chakra to the surface. Steam erupted through the ground with a thunderous roar, bits of earth flying through the air from the newly formed geyser, which funneled the steam into a thick, powerful jet.

He concentrated as he sent out other tendrils of water through the ground. Each time they got to an appointed spot, he sent a surge of chakra through the earth, forcing the water to super heat and rip through the ground to form several geysers around the area. After having the formed the fifth geyser, all of them expelling large amounts of steam, the air began to thicken from the moisture being added to it. Before the steam became too hazardous to the other three with him, Aeron pulled his hands away from the ground. The geysers continued for several more seconds as the last of the steam came forth, before falling silent once more.

Breathing slightly heavy from the excretion, Aeron stood and turned to the astonished faces of Hinata and Naruto. "That's so cool! You have to teach me jōton, Nï-san!" Naruto pleaded, seemingly forgetting that he was angry at the man not minutes ago. Aeron couldn't help but laugh at the blonde's sudden change in temperament.

"I would love to, but you lack three things for me to teach you how to use it." He lifted up his hand, while extending out his pointer finger; "One, You don't have the affinity for katon." He lifted his middle finger next; "Two, You don't have the affinity for suiton." He lifted his ring finger; "Three, Even if you did know how to use those two elements, you don't have the mutation to combine them into jōton," he finished, watching the blonde who began to pout.

"Aww man, that's no fair..." Naruto sadly admitted, causing the other three to laugh at the blonde's expense. Aeron walked back over to the group, sitting back down as he got ready to continue with his story.

"As I stated previously, I happened to be born with a strong natural connection to the mutation, which allowed me to excel in its use. I became a ninja and thanks to my abilities and skills, I easily surpassed my fellows and as a result, most resented me for my success. I won't get into the long and boring story of me becoming a jounin, but I eventually married a beautiful fellow ninja named Ryoko, and we had a child together..." Aeron stopped, taking a deep breath to help calm himself.

"Her name is Akemi, and the happiest day of my life was when I saw her bright, little eyes for the first time thirteen years ago..." He coughed a few times, holding back the wave of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. "She didn't gain the mutation I had, which I'm thankful for, because my prowess caught the eyes of the higher ups, who selected me for a very special task," he paused, making sure that Naruto was paying attention. "I was selected to become the next jinchūiki for the Sanbi, much like you are for the Kyūbi, Naruto."

Naruto's mouth fell open in shock. "To spell it plainly for you," Aeron continued, "You and I both have demons inside of us that were placed there more or less against our will. However, you were a baby when it happened to you, for me, I was about twenty-two if I recall correctly."

"You mean...you and I are the same?" Naruto managed weakly, at a loss for words.

Aeron nodded, "Yes, including the way the village treats you. When word got around that I was the next jinchuriki, I was treated differently. Where once people respected me and I was treated as an equal, it quickly turned to fear and disdain. Many places closed their doors to me and my family because of what I was, afraid that the Sanbi would take hold and wreak havoc and destruction. Their fears were soon realized when one day on a mission, I lost control."

Aeron blankly stared at the ground, his mind calling forth memories he had long ago buried. "Me and my squad were on a mission when we got ambushed. We were hard pressed against a group of powerful ninja and I willingly gave myself to the Sanbi. I...don't remember what all happened, only flashes here and there, but when I came to, I was the only survivor..."

"When I returned to the village and told the council, with the full intent to resign. They declined my resignation, saying 'That a weapon should stay sharp for the time it is needed most'. They pushed what had happened under the rug, but not everyone can keep their mouths shut and it got leaked around the village. Soon, everyone knew what had happened, including Ryoko, who began to fear me like everyone else and through careful manipulation, even my own daughter began to see me as a monster. I couldn't take it anymore, being completely ostracized by my whole village, I took a few prized treasures and secretly left in the dead of night and took to traveling the world, where no one knew anything about me."

He let out a sigh as he came to conclusion of the story that was his life. "Hunter-nin came after me, but I either evaded or killed any that tried for three years, until I came here, settled down once again and still they found me. This last group was as successful as all the others, even going so far as to try and use Ryoko against me, but still they failed." Aeron stretched his arms out and looked at the two teens before him, "So, any questions?"

Both Hinata and Naruto were dumbfounded to find out the truth about the man before them. For Hinata, it explained why both Aeron and Naruto had the same pain in their eyes and the same strange aura emanating from their person. Naruto however, felt a much deeper connection to the man he called Nï-san, who knew exactly how he had felt, who knew all the hardships that he had to go through, having already dealt with similar pains in his life. However, one thought nagged at the back of their minds.

"That form you were in earlier, what was it?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Heh, I thought you were going to ask about that. I'm not going to go into how it all happened, but the simplest way to put it is that I am the Sanbi. Isobū has no physical form anymore, instead I am his body. His consciousness is still inside of me and from time to time I allow him control over my body, but it's a symbiotic relationship. So technically, I am a hanyou." Aeron shrugged, not thinking too much about it.

"Does that mean that I may eventually become like you?" Naruto asked, uncertainty in his voice.

"Maybe one day, but that reminds me," Aeron balled his hand and held out his fist out to Naruto. Naruto lifted an eyebrow as he glanced at the fist and then back to Aeron. "Come on, before my arm gets tired." Naruto curled his own fingers into a fist and bumped his against Aeron's. The instant they touched, Naruto found himself in a very familiar tunnel with a smugly grinning Aeron beside him.

"**To what do I owe this lovely visit?**"

* * *

**Justu Glossary**

**********Jōton**  


******Chikyuu Rikisen (**Steam Style: Earth Force-Fountain) ******- Aeron pools chakra into his arms and places his hands against/in the ground. With the built up chakra, he sends tendrils of water into the earth, loosening and creating a pathway through the dirt. Once at a designated location, he sends a surge of chakra through the water tendrils to super heat it. As the water turns into steam pockets in the earth, Aeron manipulates the steam to erupt through the surface as geysers. The thick, super heated steam quickly suffocates any unfortunate enough to be within the blast.**


	11. Writing on the Wall

**A/N: Well, I really don't know what else to say. I guess I will touch up on a particular topic that Soul hit upon in his own story. While some events in my story will be from canon, I highly suggest that you don't skip around in my story. I understand that some of the people reading the chapters have already read everything up to this point, others seem to skip some chapters. If you do this, you will miss elements of the story that will make continuing on rather confusing. So for the sake of being able to fully enjoy the story, read every single chapter if your are going to read it, or just don't read it at all. Lord knows I don't get any type of feedback from people as it is, but that's just one of the things that kind of irks me. With that being said, Soul, we have already talked about your review over Skype, so me posting anything else on here would be pointless. I will say however, that I am grateful for your continued support and that I'm happy to be writing a story that you so enjoy.**

**That being said, please enjoy the chapter and I hope you all look forward to the next one.**

* * *

"**To what do I owe this lovely visit?"**

Naruto blinked several times, making sure that he truly wasn't imagining things. The familiar pipes snaked their way across the ceiling of the tunnel-like enclosure, several finding their ways down the wall. The feeling of the cool, ankle high water around his feet and Aeron standing next to him was testament this was no figment of his imagination. Before him stood the bars that lead to the cell of the Kyūbi that was imprisoned inside of him long ago, with the fox choosing to don his human disguise. The red-dressed man leaned against left wall, his head tilted back with his visible eye closed.

"Heh, so this is the 'great' Kyūbi no Kitsune huh?" Aeron questioned, unimpressed with the figure before him. "Sure he looks tough, but looks can be deceiving."

Kyūbi's uncovered eye flared open, giving the Sanbi host a look that would set most mortals aback. However, Aeron stood his ground, letting out a little chuckle at Kyūbi's unspoken threat. "**You mortals truly don't understand when not to anger a power you can't hope to combat. Isobū , it seems , hasn't taught his pet very well," **Kyūbi spat. "**Get out here Isobū , before I decide to kill your pathetic human."**

_**'You really like to push someone's buttons don't you?' **_Isobū mentally scolded, causing his host to playfully smile.

'_Maybe just a little, but it seems your buddy demands your presence. Shouldn't keep him waiting.' _Isobū mentally sighed as Aeron expertly formed the seal, '_Tori_', holding the seal slightly away from his chest. His eyes closed as he held perfectly still, the two minds trading places. When Aeron opened his eyes again, where once they were blue, had changed to the yellow of the Sanbi.

"**In a foul mood as always, Kurama-san," **Isobū remarked, lifting his hand up and grabbing the toothpick from his mouth with a thumb and forefinger. He looked at it, shaking his head slightly, never quite understanding why Aeron insisted on having it always in his mouth. Slipping the toothpick atop of his ear, Isobū looked at the nine tailed man.

Naruto, being completely ignored by the two bijū, glanced back and forth between the two men. "Kurama?" He inquired, more so to himself than asking anyone in particular. Isobū heard the blond's question, lifting a silver eyebrow while turning his attention on the teen.

"**You been Kurama's host for thirteen years and didn't know his name?" **He stated in amazement, returning his gaze to Kurama, "**What exactly have you been doing with him?"**

"**Not a damn thing,"** Kurama snapped. "**Not that it's any of your business what I do with my worthless host. He didn't even know of my existence until a few short months ago."**

"Who are you calling worthless?!" Naruto yelled angrily while lunging forward. Isobū's hand shot out and grabbed the back of Naruto's jacket, holding the boy back.

"**It would seem you have someone akin to you Kurama. You both anger easily," **the turtle demon sighed. Naruto continued to pull against Isobū's iron grip, the latter not budging at all, as if made of stone.

Kurama glowered at his turtle counterpart. "**I'm nothing like that boy. He's weak and pathetic, not ****to mention a complete baka. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and if it wasn't for my power, he wouldn't have got as far as he has in life," **the fox finished. Each word fed fuel to the uncontrollable fire that was Naruto Uzumaki.

"SAY THAT TO MY FACE YOU DAMN FOX!" Naruto yelled, struggling harder against Isobū's hand in an attempt to free himself. Naruto maneuvered his arms forward, grabbing the zipper at the top of his jacket. Before Isobū could react, Naruto quickly unzipped the jacket and pulled away, charging directly at Kurama. The faintest of smiles graced the fox's lips, something that was not missed by Isobū's ever watchful gaze.

The rhythmic splashes resounded throughout the tunnel as Naruto closed the distance to Kurama. The blonde pulled his left arm back, ready to throw all of his anger towards the creature that had caused him so much pain in his life. Kurama, relishing every chance he can cause his host pain, cocked his right arm in anticipation. As the gap between the two closed, in unison, their fists flew forward.

Their attention was so fixed on one another, that neither were aware of the trasnformed turtle hanyou drawing near. Just as their balled hands were about to connect with one another, they were stopped by Isobū. Kurama and Naruto's hands were covered by Isobū's sickly gray, shell plated hands. The forward momentum of their punches pressed Isobū's hands back-to-back, the spikes adorning the plates scrapped against the opposite plate.

Both combatants glared at the hanyou stopping them. "**How dare you stop me, Isobū, you should learn your place," **growled a furious Kurama.

"Why the hell did you stop me? I was gonna pummel his face in!" Naruto spouted, just as angry as the bijū who was imprisoned inside of him.

"**I'm not very big on confrontation, but this wasn't my doing,"** remarked the the transformed human-turtle. Isobū closed his eyes, opening them several seconds later to reveal normal blue eyes.

"As much as I would just love for the two of you to beat the hell out of each other, kiss, then make up, we all know that isn't going to happen. Naruto is nowhere near the level to fight you, even as you are in your current state, Kurama," Aeron explained. "But..." Aeron let go of Naruto's hand, quickly pulling it back and before Kurama could react, slammed his spiked fist into the Kyūbi's face.

The demonically powered fist launched Kurama through the air to slam into the opposite wall, creating a three foot crater from the impact. Naruto's jaw fell open, eyes wide in shock at the display of power.

_**'You didn't...' **_An equally shocked Isobū mentally said to Aeron, who simply grinned. Reaching up, Aeron grabbed the toothpick from his ear with an index and middle finger, slipping it into is mouth and biting down on the end.

"I am," Aeron finished. Naruto glanced back and forth between the crater and Aeron, still in complete disbelief that Aeron was able to so easily defeat the great Kyūbi no Kitsune.

Finally breaking out of his stupor, Naruto, unable to contain himself, began to jump around in joy. "Yea! You showed that damn fox who's the boss!" The blonde exclaimed happily. Aeron was about to attempt to calm the over-zealous blonde, when he felt a faint rumbling. Then the whole ground began to shake violently, causing both jinchūriki to stare at the crater.

The wall where the crater was created exploded outwards towards the two men, forcing them to dodge large debris. As the dust settled, they both looked back to the wall, or what was left of it. A huge section was blown out, leaving a single figure standing in the open, nine tails thrashing out behind him.

"**YOU DARE HIT ME?! CHERISH YOUR LAST MOMENTS YOU INSIGNIFICANT INSECT!" **Kurama shouted with such force, the whole tunnel vibrated with each spoken syllable. Kurama shook his left shoulder, letting the coat slip off, giving him full access to his left arm. He brought his hands out in front of him, palms aimed towards one another with his tails curling over his body to encircle the space, channeling immense amounts of chakra. Before their very eyes, visible little balls of red and blue chakra began to form around Kurama, floating towards the space between his hands.

'_He can create a Bijūdama even in his weakened state?!' _Aeron mentally shouted, too amazed by the terrible sight before him to move.

'_**Baka, he's the Kyūbi He's the strongest out of the nine bijū. You should really pick your fights better,'**_ Isobū criticized. _**'Also, because of the weakening of the seal that was placed on Naruto, Kurama is able to pull more and more of his chakra. "You made your bed, now you must sleep in it." As you humans like to say.'**_

_'You do realize that if I die, you die as well. For good.'_

_'**I know, I have faith in you.'**_

_'I appreciate it...'_ Aeron mentally sighed, returning back to the task at hand. Kurama formed a two foot purple sphere between his hands, the sheer mass of the orb causing a crater to form underneath his feet.

"Naruto, you need to get the hell out of here," Aeron informed the blonde. Naruto looked at the man, the most puzzled look present on his face.

"How the hell am I supposed to get out of my own mind?" Naruto demanded. Aeron turned to the blonde, a deadpan expression etched on his features, before bringing his hand up to cover his face.

"That's not what I meant..." Aeron shook himself back to reality just in time to see Kurama condense the sphere of pure chakra into the size of a small ball. He lifted his hands, the ball constantly floating between them, stopping once the orb was at eye level. Kurama opened his mouth wide, popping the orb in his gaping maw.

Aeron quickly turned to the blonde, "Naruto, run!" He ordered. Naruto glanced back and forth between Kurama and Aeron, just as he opened his mouth in rebuttal, Aeron took off quickly in Kurama's direction. Taking one last look in their direction, Naruto reluctantly turned and ran down the tunnel, away from the confrontation.

Kurama's cheeks puffed out as the dense chakra ball erupted inside of his mouth. Steam began to pour forth from his nostrils as he contained the explosive power, waiting for the precise moment. Aeron closed the distance to the Kyūbi as quickly as he could, cocking an arm back in an attempt to turn Kurama's head before he released the Bijūdama. Kurama knew what the man intended to do, a evil smile creeping across his face as he opened his mouth.

Just as Kurama was about to unleash the destructive fury of the Bijūdama upon Aeron, the man did something that confused the fox; he grinned. Aeron quickly dove towards Kurama's feet, flipping over onto his back as he quickly ran through seals, "**Jōton: Suishin Suberi!**"

Aeron sent a surge of chakra towards his tails while pressing the sides of the limbs together, forming a triangle behind him. The plates along his tails shifted as the surge of chakra caused steam to erupt from the holes lining the appendages. The turtle hanyou rocketed towards Kurama's legs, hitting them with such force, that the Kyūbi no Kitsune began to fall forward.

The Bijūdama was released with Kurama aiming it towards the ground; right in front of him. The resulting explosion left nothing standing, blowing the walls and ceiling into nothingness. Miraculously, the cage that held most of Kurama's chakra remained perfectly intact. Aeron slowly picked himself up, having gone for a rather bumpy ride from the resulting shock waves of the Bijūdama. Letting his gaze drift over the now open space, he quickly found what he was looking for.

Aeron kept his vision fixed on his target as he strolled over to the body of the Kyūbi no Kitsune. Kurama opened his right eye as the man drew near, starting to lift himself up on his arms just as Aeron put a foot on his chest. Pushing down hard, Aeron forced Kurama back to the ground as he glared at the fox.

"Seriously, just stay down," Aeron stated, a smug smile on his face.

"**You're clever, I'll give you that much credit**," Kurama growled. "**But if you think that you can truly compete with me, you are sorely mistaken.**"

"Enough with the superiority complex you have going on, it's rather annoying. Besides, I really just want say something," he explained.

"**Then speak**," the fox spat, glaring at the man above him.

Unfazed by the fox, Aeron stared back. "I know what your doing with Naruto and the seal, I know your trying to take over his body. I care about him too much to let some piece of shit like you take him away from me. If you continue to try and force yourself on him, I swear to you, I will put such a seal on your ass that you will never see the light of day," Aeron stated, letting the obvious threat hang in the air. "Do we understand each other?"

Kurama let out a simple "**Tch."** in disgust and annoyance, reaching his right hand up and grabbing Aeron ankle. He lifted an eyebrow in curiosity, soon turning to shock as Kurama easily lifted and tossed the turtle hanyou. Aeron flipped several times in the air as he landed on his feet, staring in amazement at the power of the Kyūbi no Kitsune. Kurama managed himself back to his feet, offering a sidelong glance at Aeron, as he walked to his cell.

'_Well, that went better than I had hoped...' _Aeron mentally sighed, while rolling his head, relieving the kinks in his neck.

'_**You got lucky. We will still have to keep an eye on Naruto just in case, but I think Kurama respects you,"**_ Isobū replied.

'_That goes without saying, but he can respect me all he wants. He messes with the ones I care about, I'll kill him.'_ A bittersweet smile grew on Isobū's face, happy with the fact that he had someone who so cared for others over himself, while hating the fact that he was forced to resort to threats when it came to protecting those loved ones, especially with one of his own kind. If that's what it came down to, Isobū was determined to help the man in anyway that he could.

The sounds of water splashing behind them brought the two from their inner contemplations, turning to see Naruto running towards them.

"What happened here?" Naruto asked in amazement, soaking in the destruction around him. Aeron chuckled softly to himself, curling his fingers into a fist and extending it towards the boy.

"I'll explain in a second, but let's get out of here first. I don't want to explain it more times than I have to." Naruto nodded in understanding, as he curled his own hand into a fist, bumping it against the older man's. The two men faded from Naruto's consciousness, returning to the outside world, where only seconds had passed since the two had originally bumped fists. Naruto opened his eyes and mouth in an attempt to speak, only to groan in pain as a wave of blinding pain washed over him. The blonde put his hands on his head in an attempt to soothe the throbbing.

"Naruto-kun, whats wrong?" Asked a concerned Hinata, putting a comforting hand upon his back in an attempt to help, not knowing what was wrong nor how to help.

"He's just suffering the effects of what happened in his mind, place looks like a war-zone," Aeron laughed, stopping upon receiving a glare from the Toad Sage. Aeron brought a hand up to his mouth as he coughed, clearing his throat as he began to explain to the three just what had transpired.

* * *

The great fox watched idly as the stone walls slowly repaired themselves, fueled by its vast chakra. Kurama occasionally shifted his sight from one spot to another in a vain attempt to occupy himself with empty distraction. He longed to feel the soft dirt under his paws, to smell the fresh air, to hear the screams of the dying. The last thought caused a evil grin to form on his vulpine features. He could do without all the other pleasantries, so long as he was given the chance to cause pain and misery. His thoughts drifted to an image of Aeron, smug grin etched on his face.

'_**When I am free of this child, I will make you suffer pain the likes of which none have ever experienced. You can count on that...' **_Kurama closed his eyes, doing the only thing that he was able to in the confined space of the cell he found himself in; he dreamt of all he could do, upon being freed.

* * *

Present Time...

"WEEEEE!" Hinata was drawn from her memories by the loud, familiar howl. The sound caused her highly sensitive kitsune ears to twitch, discovering the direction in which the sound originated. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she cast her vision skyward, not understanding how the cause of the sound could be above her. Her keen eyes easily spotted the source, causing her to lift an eyebrow in curiosity upon seeing the man seemingly flying through the air towards her. Her eyes followed him through the air as he grew closer and closer, her head following the rest of the way as he closed the distance, landing several feet in front of her.

The man landed with such force, he formed a small crater at his impact site, lifting a large amount of dirt that covered his person. Dusting himself off, he formed a smile while looking in Hinata's direction. He had dark skin with a muscular build, his hair was blonde and combed back with a goatee of the same color. Covering his forehead was a white, Kumo hitai-ate with a pair of oval shaped sunglasses hiding his eyes. Emblazoned upon his left cheek was a tattoo of blue bull horns, with a long white scarf wrapped around his neck. His outfit consisted of the standard Kumo one strap white flak jacket, with matching white hand and shin guards, sandals and a red rope belt tied around his waist. On his left shoulder, was the kanji 鉄 (Iron) and across his back were three swords, two Supervibrato Lightning Release Swords underneath the sentient Samehada blade. The thing that set Bee apart from any other Kumo shinobi, was the fact that he had two horns jutting out the side of his head and eight octopus-like tentacles for tails growing from his lower back.

"Yo," Bee simply stated to the woman, who continued to curiously stare at him. Assuming that she was expecting more than just the simple greeting, he brought a hand up to his mouth and coughed. Once done clearing his throat, he crossed his arms in front of him and began to lightly bounce in-tune to music only he heard.

"Kokonotsu no Hime-sama, sugoiiii migoto mieru ze. Kuro dake ni chakuyou, ore no mune ni hasso o kure yo." Bee rapped, waving his hands back and forth with each syllable, moving his whole body to the beat of his own tune. As he finished, he pumped arm up to the sky, his hand forming a rocker symbol as he howled to the heavens, "Iiiiieeee!"

Hinata blinked several times, digesting the words of his miniature rap. Upon fully understanding the words, Hinata couldn't resist giggling, a light blush creeping onto her cheeks from the compliment.

"Thank you Bee-san, your singing always brings a smile to my face," she admitted, giving the man an appreciative smile. Bee was about to respond when another voice echoed from a distance, a large dust cloud drawing ever closer. "BEEEE!" yelled the voice, causing Hinata to turn around, while Bee took a fearful step back, knowing full well what was heading their way.

The trail of dust swerved back and forth through the streets of Konoha, turning a final corner to reveal a fearsome foe; the Yondaime Raikage. "Burazaa," Bee hesitantly managed as A jumped towards him, kicking out a foot as he closed the gap.

"**Doroppu Kikku!"** A shouted as he connected the kick to Bee's chest. The momentum from A transferred to Bee, who proceeded to fly through the air, just barely missing several buildings in his flight towards the Hokage's Tower. Hinata sweat dropped, never fully understanding the relationship that A and Bee had and simply chose not to begin trying.

Hinata quickly put a on a smile as A turned towards her. Despite having just witnessed the spectacle, it wasn't her place to pry into another's personal affairs. She pretended as if nothing had ever happened.

The Raikage was a man who commanded authority, looking much like Bee. Having the same darkened skin, combed-back blonde hair, mustache and beard while having a large muscular build. His face was very distinguished with pronounced cheekbones and tear troughs under his eyes, and a prominent crease across his forehead. He wore he Kage haori without any type of shirt under it, further displaying his hulking physique along with his gold belt wrapped around his waist, a boar's head engraved in the center

"Good morning, Hinata-hime. Where might I find your husband?" A asked, getting straight to the point.

"Good morning, Raikage-dono. He should be at the Hokage Tower, but he's in the mi-" Hinata started to reply. A immediately turned upon getting the information he needed, cutting Hinata short as he made his way towards the tower, jumping from roof to roof.

Hinata watched as A disappeared from sight. '_First Gaara, now Raikage-dono and Bee-san...Naruto isn't telling me something.' _She felt an anger begin to rise to the surface. '_While I understand why he feels the need to be so protective...it was cute for awhile, but this is becoming too much. We're a team and I'm a strong kunoichi in my own right, I will just have to remind him that!' _

The air around the woman hung thick with her rage. Many of the children had stopped their training, finding their gaze inexplicably drawn to the woman, with even Iruka following suit. Hinata closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath and slowly expelled it, calming herself. Having come up with a plan of action, with a determined step, she began her walk to where she would find her husband. Iruka continued to watch until Hinata walked out of his view, he couldn't help but smile as he scratched the side of his head.

'_If I had to guess, Naruto is probably in for a world of hurt. I hope Hinata doesn't over do it.' _Turning his attention back onto his charges, they were all still staring at the spot the Hokage's wife had been standing.

"What do you think you're all doing? I don't see anyone training!" Iruka shouted, bringing every child from his or her daze, and returning them back to their tasks.

* * *

The Council's chamber was a very large circular room with a single wooden desk set slightly away from the left-hand wall. On the opposite wall, were two rows of tables forming elongated U's, the back elevated to have it higher than the one in front. Sitting at appointed spots, sat the council, consisting of the heads of the individual clans comprising the village as well as several citizens who were selected to voice the collective opinion of the common folk.

This was possibly Naruto's least favorite activity being Hokage. He understood why it was necessary, but that didn't ease his dislike of it any less. He had his right arm propped on his left hand, his fingers covering his mouth with his thumb pressed against his chin. His eyes were closed as he listened to each speaker, nodding his head from time to time in an attempt to appear that he was paying attention.

Ino had just finished a long, drawn out explanation about the interrogation about a none too important prisoner, forcing Naruto to open his eyes. He set his raptor-like gaze upon the current head of the hospital and perhaps the best medical ninja alive, "Sakura, how are things coming with the medical ninja?"

The pink haired kunoichi felt like melting under his gaze. It always felt like he was looking right through her, as if everything was revealed under his penetrating stare. Feeling everyone else looking at her, she shook the feeling and began her report.

"Their training is going according to plan, we hope to have them out in the field within the month. However, supplies are running short and we will need to restock shortly if we are going to continue with the program after this group graduates. The good news is that the hospital is fully equipped and staffed to handle anything major that could possibly happen," she informed him. As she finished, several members nodded their heads in approval, others simply accepted the information.

Naruto's eyes, however, never faltered in their stare. Besides Sakura, only three other people out of the council of twelve seemed aware of the prolonged look in her direction. Most had chalked it up to him giving her his undivided attention, but they knew otherwise. Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji all were curious as to why the blonde was so intent on the pink haired kunoichi, but never received their answer when something caught Naruto's attention.

Naruto had caught the image of something flying by the window, faster than anyone could register, he was standing by it and gazed out in the direction the object had gone. Looking down, Naruto felt a large grin form on his face as he found the wreckage that was Killer Bee, who had landed on a very unfortunate Maito Gai.

'_Finally, they're here, perhaps we can get to the bottom of these attacks_,' Naruto happily thought. Just as he finished the thought, he felt a chill run up his spine, informing him that today wasn't going to end well for him.

'_**Seems like she knows you've been keeping her in the dark again,**_' Kurama remarked. Despite having changed so much over the years, it still amused the fox to see Naruto suffer.

'_I know...this isn't going to end well...'_

* * *

**Glossary**

Bee's rap translation: "Princess of the Nine, you be lookin' stunningly divine. Wearin' all black, you're bound ta' give me a heart attack! Yeahhhhh!"


	12. Consensus by Seizure and Censure

**A/N: Welcome back everyone, sorry it took so long for an update. I've been busying myself with video games, my #1 passion. Recently purchased two classics on my PS3, sooo that's been taking most of my time, plus this chapter was kind of a pain for me to write, you will see why as you read.**

**I want to let everyone know now, that I will be going back over the older chapters for one final update. Nothing overly serious, fix up tense issues, grammar, add in some detail and change stuff around to flow better; not necessary for you to go back and read over it unless you want to see the updates or just like the story that much, lol.**

**Time will tell if my writing schedule will change. Between everything going on, sometimes I just don't feel in the mood to write and I would rather not turn something I like t do into work, so will find out eventually how things play out.**

**Anyway, with that being said, I'm going to give the credit where it's deserved. I took FOREVER coming up with some kind of rap for Bee and Naruto, and what I came up with, sucked to be 100% honest with myself. soulfistx, however, came up with a much better rap, so the credit is all his.**

**To the reviews:**

**soulfistx:** As always, we talk about everything everyday and bounce ideas off one another and give each other input. So me further mentioning anything here seems redundant, yet, who else am I going to put in here since your the only one who really reviews? XD. Your efforts to help me and continued support of my story are as always, greatly appreciated. Also, for actually beta-ing this chapter since I didn't feel 100% comfortable with it instead of waiting till after I posted to beta, ^_^.

**Zigmas:** It may be a one word review, but the message is still greatly appreciated, lol. I hope you enjoy the chapter and the many that follow.

**Codaram:** I sent you a long little reply to your review, but still, thank you for your criticism.

**With that being said, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and those to come. :)**

* * *

The sun shined brightly over Konohagakure no Sato. Despite the slow shift of the summer heat to the cool, crisp of fall, the village was abuzz with life. But even with the chill coming in, it did nothing to calm the storm that was brewing within Hinata Namikaze.

As she walked, she kept a smile on her face, and though the facade worked on nearly every villager that happened to greet the Hokage's wife, it did not fool them all. One such individual, spotted the former Hyūga and immediately saw through the 'plastic face' that she donned for the common folk. Finding it curious that Hinata of all people would have something to hide, he chose to investigate further. Now he waited, casually leaned against the side of a building with his most recent 'イチャイチャ' novel, knowing that she was going to be passing him any moment.

He continued to read as Hinata came around the corner, too absorbed in her quest to notice the Jōnin in her way. Just as Hinata was about to completely bypass the silver haired shinobi, he closed his book with a soft _thump_, the noise causing the woman's kitsune ears to twitch towards its source. She stopped, drawn from her inner thoughts to turn towards the man.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, Kakashi-san," Hinata apologized, a little astonished that she was so drawn into herself to not notice the familiar face.

"It's quite alright, Hinata-sama, you seem rather distracted. Is something on your mind?" he questioned, his visible right eye carefully observing the nine-tailed woman.

She contemplated lying to the man, but she knew it was folly, she was never one to lie to anyone about anything; besides, Kakashi would be able to see right through it, he just had a way of knowing the truth. With a resigned sigh, she decided to give him the honest truth.

"It's Naruto...he-" she started, a somber look growing on her beautiful face before Kakashi raised his hand to stop her. He unbuttoned a pocket on his flak jacket and slipped his book inside before closing it back up.

"Mind if I walk with you?" he asked, while waving his hand for her to continue on. She resumed her walk at a much slower pace, observing as Kakashi moved right with her.

"Please, continue," he invited.

Sighing again, she resumed, "He's been keeping me in the dark again, hiding what has been going on for the last few months. I know that there have been several attacks on patrolling squads and outlying villages, but I had no idea it was serious enough to bring both Kazekage-dono and Raikage-dono," she explained, her eyes glued to the ground in front of her. Kakashi listened intently to every word, catching the slightest hint of anger and sadness in her voice.

"Why do you think that he's been doing that?" he inquired. Just from the short explanation, and what he already knew about what was going on, he had come to his own conclusions, but was curious as to what she thought.

Hinata let out a slow breath and closed her eyes, "I think he's trying to protect me by keeping me blind to the goings-on around the village. I understand why he's does it, but I don't want to be left out of what's happening. I'm not just his friend anymore, I'm his wife and partner; he doesn't have to keep secrets from me."

Kakashi leaned his head back, looking at the sky as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "While I understand how you feel Hinata," he began, "you also have to consider Naruto's feelings and everything that the two of you have been through. Naruto has come to think of everyone in the village like his family, but you will always be on a pedestal above the rest, and he will do anything he can to keep you safe. He has a lot on his plate right now and he believes that the only way to protect you is to keep you in the dark." He turned towards Hinata, his visible eye creased into a happy indicator of a smile, "I believe he just needs to be reminded that he can't always do everything on his own," he finished.

Hinata turned to look at him, his smile was infectious as her own lips curled into a soft smile. It was relieving to talk to someone about how she felt, especially about her husband's protective behavior. Kakashi, as it turns out, was possibly the best person to help with the issue. "Thank you, Kakashi-san, that's just what I needed to hear," she genuinely thanked him from the bottom of her heart.

"It was my pleasure," he replied. "And it looks like we're here." Hinata slightly tilted her head in confusion at his last statement to find Kakashi lifting his head in a short pointing gesture. Hinata followed the movement and discovered that they were at the Hokage's tower.

"I won't keep you any longer, Hinata-sama," Kakashi stated, making a quick seal before vanishing in a cloud of smoke. Hinata glanced at the spot where the silver-haired Jōnin stood, watching the cloud dissipate fully before returning her view to the tower before her. With new resolve, and plan of action, she began her search for her husband, starting with his office.

* * *

The council meeting had come to an end after Naruto had finished hearing out the few remaining reports. He distinctly remembered seeing the last of the council members leave the room, yet, four remained. Naruto glanced at each one of the people in the room with him. He knew why Sasuke and Shikamaru hadn't left, but Sakura and Neji were a different story.

"I assume that there is something you all want to ask," the blond stated, rather than questioned. None of the four remaining made a move or any indication of making their voice be heard, that is, until Sasuke Uchiha spoke out.

"Is there any specific reason that you're eyeballing my wife?" The Uchiha head demanded. Sakura squirmed uncomfortably in her chair, not enjoying being the center of attention. Naruto's eyes watched the heated Uchiha, then glanced to Sakura, adding onto her discomfort.

"It isn't my place to pry into another's business," Naruto calmly stated, only fueling Sasuke's rising anger.

"If that were true, then why do you have your shadow clones snooping around the village?" Sasuke spat. The accusation caused a curious Neji to lift an eyebrow, while Sakura's eyes opened wide in shock. Neji was always curious about why Naruto became less and less interested in the meetings as the months went by; Sakura, however, couldn't believe that Naruto reverted to snooping to get information about what was going on around the village. Shikamaru wasn't the least bit surprised - he had known from day one that Naruto was using shadow clones for reconnaissance.

"For starters, my clones aren't 'snooping,'" he explained, bending his fingers to form pseudo-quotation marks as he spoke the term. "They never did anything that would be considered snooping; they simply observed the various parts of the village from a distance. It has helped make me aware of many problems, small or big, that were never discussed in any meeting. Anything that the clones saw that had to do with someone's personal life, I never once made _any_ mention of it to _any_one."

Shikamaru was a little surprised that Naruto stayed calm and collected, despite Sasuke's rude behavior; it was truly testament to how much the blond had grown over the years.

"If you would like, I could just blurt out to everyone here the reason of my actions, but Sakura would first have to agree to it." Naruto fixed his eyes on Sakura, finding that she was looking back at him. "So, Sakura, any objections?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow as he waited. Sakura blinked several times, trying to recall anything since the last meeting that the kitsune hanyou could possibly know about. Despite her best efforts, nothing jumped out at her that were even remote possibilities.

"I have nothing to hide, I want to know why you are treating me like I have done something wrong," the pink haired woman declared, now just as curious as everyone else. Naruto looked at the four in the room before clearing his throat, preparing to break the news.

"Very well," he began. "First, I would like to congratulate you and Sasuke." The four gave him perplexed looks, not really knowing what the Hokage was talking about. "Second," he lowered his hands to the desk and grinned, "When is your due date?"

Sakura didn't know how to respond, shock was written all over her face. How did Naruto ever find out? She had taken precautions, she had been so careful not reveal it to anyone, not even Sasuke; she was going to tell her husband eventually, but wasn't sure how he would take it. She could feel a blush rush to her cheeks at her secret being exposed, Naruto's grin not helping in the least.

The other men in the room were dumbfounded, Shikamaru and Neji much less than the Uchiha clan head. Sasuke turned towards Sakura, a look of disbelief painted on his normally composed face. "Y-You're pregnant!?" he choked out, not sure whether to believe it or not.

Sakura glanced at her husband, pursing her lips as she smiled shyly, she hesitantly nodded her head in confirmation. "You're going to be a father..." she hesitantly informed him, uncertain of his reaction. An awkward silence fell upon the room, all eyes fell on Sasuke, who was still wrapping his head around what he had just learned. No one knew just how he was going to react, all expected the worse, though, despite his change over the years.

Just as tension started to build in the room, the last Uchiha did something that surprised all but Naruto, who had the utmost faith in his friend. He smiled. "I'm gonna be a dad..." he whispered. He rose in one fluid motion, before walking over to his wife. Sakura couldn't hold back the tears any longer, she had seen the worst and best of Sasuke over the years; she had finally broken through all the darkness that had swallowed his heart so long ago to reveal the man that was now tenderly hugging her. Nothing else in the room existed except each other as they smiled, laughed and kissed, finally being able to start the family that Sakura always wanted.

Not wanting to disturb the couple, the three men carefully got out of their chairs and proceeded out the door, closing it without making so much as the faintest of sounds. "So, you've been using shadow clones to spy on everyone?" Neji asked out of the blue, picking up where the discussion had left off.

Naruto sighed, "Call it what you will, it's very effective and it keeps me well informed on everything that happens before it can be told to me through any other means, including the Council Meetings. If anything, the meetings serve the purpose of informing the other council members of everything I already know about." After Naruto's explanation, the corners of Neji's lips held the faintest hints of a smile.

"That would also explain why any Hyūga member that starts causing an uproar about me being Head of the Hyūga Clan befalls an accident," the Hyūga offhandedly remarked. The Hokage gave the simplest of shrugs before replying.

"I wouldn't call them 'accidents,' I prefer the term 'harmless pranks.'" With the conversation drawing to a close, Naruto took his leave and began to walk back up to his office, with Shikamaru shadowing his foot steps. The pale-white eyed man watched the two vanish around the corner before giving the slightest of chuckles. '_Once a prankster, always a prankster.'_ At that thought, he recalled the day in the Chūnin exams when he was pit against the blond all those years ago. The day his life took a change for the better. The day he was released from his cage.

* * *

Naruto opened the door leading into his office. The six clones that he had previously stationed in the room were still busy with their assorted tasks. He took off his Kage Hat, hanging it on the rack next to the door as he walked by as he made his way to his desk. Shikamaru took his customary spot, sitting in the corner in front of a shogi board as Naruto got comfortable in his chair. Putting his elbows on top of the desk, he crossed his fingers together, covering his mouth with the action as he stared intently at the door.

No words needed to be said between the two men, both knew exactly what was going to happen in the room, and what was to be discussed once everyone was accounted for. Shikamaru made several moves in his game, the sharp _clack_ of the wooden pieces hit the board with each carefully thought out piece movement. Naruto glanced at the one of the two pictures that adorned his desk. The picture was exactly as his old Team Seven picture: everyone was much older, all happily smiling, except of course, Sasuke Uchiha, who achieved the closest thing to a smile that he could without breaking his cool. His eyes were drawn, however, to the other picture, which was of his wife, Hinata.

He let out the softest of sighs, just as his sensitive ears picked up a sound: the sound of a single pair of sandal covered feet hitting the wood floor. "Yo say ho!" Bee yelled, bringing up a foot to kick the door open. Shikamaru, hearing the Hachibi hanyou's shout, quickly shot his hand closest to the door out and turned the handle to open the door. As soon as his hand was clear, Bee's foot came crashing against the wood, flinging the door wide open.

Bee walked in with a spring in his step, his head lolling back and forth as he bounced to music that not even Naruto's acute ears could hear. Naruto hid his grin well behind his hands, knowing well what was coming. "Yo, Bakayarō, Konoyarō," Bee started, his hands waving around with every word. Bee stopped, waiting for a reply, which he received in the form of Naruto sliding his chair back and slowly standing up. The blond closed his eyes, bobbing his head, his body steadily joining with a slight bounce, perfectly in-sync with Bee.

"Oi, Tako no occhan, imashigata ni omae nan okotta-ttebayo," he rapped back, waving his hands in a similar manner to Bee.

**(Hey, Octopops. What happened to you just a moment ago, yo?****)**

"Omae no bijin no fujin ni shikei o tsuba shita tooo, tsugi ani de nagetobashita yo, buro!"

**(I spat a verse to your Beautiful Missus, then got tossed by my bigger bro, bro!)**

"Kanojo wa sore ga aishita, demo kai?" Naruto shot back, raising an eyebrow.

**(Did she love it, though?)**

"Mochiron, baka burazaa Narutooo, Kanojo wa 'omae wa sono youna koto o iuto ore ni shiawase saseru' to itta, yo." Both men stuck a pose with their arms crossed while leaning back, Naruto had a large grin on his face while Bee's own lips curled into a smirk.

**(Of course, idiot brotha' Narutooo. "You make me happy when you stay stuff like that," is what she said, yo.)**

As the two men finished their rap, Shikamaru glanced back and forth between the two before he pinched the bridge of his nose. '_It's like they're kids without a care in the world..._' Or so he thought, until another dark skinned man walked up behind Bee... Despite his hulking physique, he walked up behind the Hachibi hanyou with the stealth of a cat stalking its prey. '_Almost without a care in the world._' he mentally corrected, with a gentle smirk tugging at the edge of his lips.

"BEEEE!" The Raikage shouted loudly behind his brother, startling the man. "Show the Hokage his rightful respect and quit flirting with Lady Hinata! **Aian Kur****ō**!" He brought his hand back, slightly curling his fingers and spreading them apart. Bee started to break out in a sweat, quickly turning around to face his brother.

"B-BurazAAH!" Bee howled, as A's hand shot forward, clamping down on his brother's head; squeezing each finger mercilessly into his skull, he vented more of his anger and frustrations onto the unfortunate Bee's thick head with each passing second.

Both Naruto and Shikamaru cringed as they watched Bee get manhandled, knowing they really couldn't do anything to stop it. As A calmed down, he let go of Bee's head, who brought his own hands to the sides of his head and began to rub it to help relieve the headache that now plagued him.

Naruto wisely sat back down as A roughly pushed his brother aside, taking several threateningly quick steps towards the kitsune hanyou. He lifted a muscular arm, hand curled into a rock, hard fist as he went to slam it into the desk. Just as A was about to unleash his unquenchable rage onto the desk, he stopped mid-movement on his own accord, or so it seemed.

Naruto lifted his brow as he shifted his eyes to see Shikamaru, his hands forming a '_Ne_' seal. His shadow was stretched, attaching itself to the Raikage's to constrict his movement, effectively stopping him.

"**Kage Mane**, seikō," Shikamaru informed the blond, who nodded in appreciation, before setting his sight on back on the immobile Raikage.

"I understand where your anger is coming from, Raikage-dono, and I would highly suggest that you calm down before you do something you will regret." Naruto stayed very rigid, he knew how the Raikage felt, for he felt the same, however, acting in rabid anger would get him nowhere. With that being said, Naruto turned back to Shikamaru, nodding his head once more. Shikamaru recognized the signal and tentatively dispelled the jutsu, giving A full control of his body once more.

The hulk of a man threw his head from side to side, cracking the muscles in his neck. Once finished, he glared at Shikamaru out of the corner of his eye. The only movement that the Jōnin made in response, however, was to release the seal he had formed before returning to his solitary shogi game. A let out a frustrated snort as he closed his eyes. "Where are the others then? I want to get to the bottom of this before anymore of my shinobi fall prey to another attack," he demanded, his fingers impatiently tapping along his thick arm.

"They will get here as soon as they can, I assure you. Kazekage-dono is in the village as we speak," Naruto informed his Kage counterpart. "Unfortunately, neither Tsuchikage-dono, nor Mizukage-dono will be able to make it, as both are needed for pressing matters in their own villages."

A's eyes flared open, anger etched on his rough features. He opened his mouth, but before he could make so much as a single word, Naruto waved a hand, signaling him to be quiet.

"Both have agreed to have another speak on their behalf and to relay what has transpired here back to their villages. Before we so much as make a move, all five Kage will know exactly what is going on," the blond explained, knowing that he was playing with fire. He empathized with the Kumo shinobi, recalling that a younger Naruto would be just as quick-tempered and impatient to get something done if it meant protecting the ones he cared about. Regardless of what he felt, though, what the world needed was a leader, not a loose-cannon.

Naruto noticed that the familiar shuffle papers and books was no longer present. Turning, he found that all six of his clones had stopped their work and were fixed on the interactions in the room, for how long, he wouldn't know until he dispelled them. "Who said you lot could stop?" he barked suddenly, startling the clones and setting them back to work.

As Naruto returned his vision in front of him, he found A was no longer there. Curious, he saw Bee, who was now leaning against a wall next to the door, lift his head slightly, pointing towards the window. The blond followed the gesture, to find a calmed Raikage staring out over Konoha, who still had his arms crossed and tapping his fingers along the muscular limbs. '_At least that problem is solved...for now anyway._' He sighed inwardly, knowing that tempers were going to fly when the others finally made it.

The tension in the room was palpable, but thankfully, they didn't have to wait much longer. Naruto's ears perked up, catching the faint sound of several pairs of sandal-covered feet drawing closer by the second. '_And so it begins,'_ he thought grimly, resuming his earlier pensive posture. As the group came to a halt outside the door, Naruto dismissed his clones silently, all six fading away before vanishing completely.

There was a sharp _knock_ on the door, which was followed by the door opening before Naruto was given the chance to reply. Aeron was the first to walk in, toothpick customarily in his mouth, hands deep in his pockets and his three plated tails flowing behind him. He stopped as he was about to pass Bee, the two turning to look at each other. Bee brought his left arm across, curling his fingers into a fist and held it out to the man. Aeron made a slight "Hn," a smile crossing his lips as he made his own fist and bumped it against his fellow hanyou's.

With the greeting done, Aeron walked towards the right hand side of the desk. Coming up behind him, was Gaara, his face expressionless as he also stopped next to Bee, who still had his fist extended. Gaara turned and looked at the man, then glanced down at the fist and exactly as Aeron did before him, bumped his fist against Bee's before falling in line next to Aeron. The last two to follow the two hanyou were the two Sannin, Jiraiya and Tsunade, with the latter entering first and the former unable to keep his eyes off his wife.

As the group filed in, with Aeron and Gaara on the right with Tsunade and Jiraiya opposite them, A joined the Sannin with Bee moving in with the other hanyou. A's vision instantly fell upon Aeron, who wanted no part of being there in the first place. "Why is he here?!" the Raikage demanded; despite being a hanyou, Aeron didn't have any real reason for being present.

Naruto dropped his hands to the desk as he spoke, "Aeron will be the fill in for both the Tsuchikage and Mizukage. Both have agreed upon it, even if he hasn't. Right, Nī-san?" Naruto grinned at the man as he asked the question, earning a glare in response.

"I was apparently highly referred to the Kage, thus when Gaara here came by to pick me up, I was more or less pissed," Aeron explained, fixing Naruto with another glare. "Wonder how that happened and why I was the last person to find out about this," he stated rather than asked. Naruto appeared to ignore Aeron's statement as he addressed all in the room.

"Thank you all for coming and I hope you're all aware of why we are here today," he began. "Outlying villages in the five great nations have been attacked, leaving nothing more than cinders in their place. Also, too many four man squads out in the field have been attacked while on patrol, or on a mission to consider it a coincidence. Despite our best efforts in finding out who the perpetrator of these attacks is, we still have no idea what we're dealing with." He glanced to everyone in the room, making sure that all were giving him his full attention. "Any suggestions?"

"Do we have any idea of whe-" Aeron stopped when the door suddenly opened. All heads turned to regard the person who now stood in the doorway, none more so than Naruto, who gulped upon seeing who it was.

"I hope I didn't miss anything," Hinata said, a deceiving smile on her lips as she made her way around Naruto's desk. The couple made eye contact the whole time as she leaned slightly towards him, whispering softly enough that only his ears could pick up the faint sound.

"_You and I are going to talk about this later_." She stood back up and turned to the others in the room, all were smiling at the small interaction, except Gaara and A. "As you were saying, Aeron-san."

He gave a soft chuckle as he started again, "Do we have any idea of where the attacks are centralized, as in, specific area's in each nation - are there any sort of pattern we can pick up on?"

"From what I've seen, there is no discernible pattern to the attacks; location, time, date, it's all completely random," Shikamaru answered, drawing all attention his way. "Yet each squad was attacked in such a similar fashion that we can only assume it's the same person or organization. However, who they are remains a complete mystery," he finished, closing his eyes as he let out a annoyed sigh, "Troublesome..."

"So we basically are walking blind here? Your spies haven't found anything out, Jiraiya?" Aeron inquired, sending all eyes to the Sannin.

Jiraiya gave a helpless shrug, "I've had them searching high and low for any information pertaining to this issue since when the first attack occurred. If they had found anything, then I would know of it by now." The room grew silent as everyone absorbed the fact that even with the help of his spy network, the Toad Sage was as clueless as the rest of them.

Naruto coughed into his hands, calling for attention. "In an attempt to garner some kind of information about what we're going up against, I sent out several squads of shadow clones disguised as a regular squad in hopes of being attacked." A mix of feelings were felt by all in attendance, shock was the most prevalent among the group; this included Shikamaru, who was not made privy of the effort Naruto had made to find who the attacker was, and most of all Hinata, who had no knowledge of what had been going on until just recently.

There was one feeling that was shared by all however: they all wanted to know the results. "What were you able to learn?" A asked impatiently, wanting to get to the meeting done with and find a plan of action.

"Over a four month period, each squad functioned normally and interacted as a normal squad should to effectively hide the truth about them." Naruto let out a heavy sigh. "However, despite my best efforts to make them seem authentic, none of the fake squads were touched. Real squads in the same general area were attacked with my clones coming across the scene afterwords," he sadly informed them.

His hands clenched into fists, hating the fact that he had been so close and still found nothing that could help stop the killings. Hinata laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, which caused him to turn and look at her, smiling in appreciation.

"Naruto," Gaara called, forcing the blond to look at him. "You did all that you could and it was a very well conceived plan of action, even if it didn't work. We will have to think of another way to combat this foe, whomever they may be, but this time, we will do so," Gaara said, the slightest hint of a smile forming at the corners of his lips, "together."

All in attendance nodded their heads in agreement, all but the Raikage, who had a sour look about him. "We may all be in agreement, but that does nothing if we have no plan of action," the large man barked loudly. "So, Hokage-dono, what _is_ the plan?"

"Yeah, what is the plan of attack? I've been itch'n for some payback," Bee added, just as eager for a solution.

Now came the hard part: the sell. "We came up with an collaborative effort: Each village will send one squad each with the perfect balance of abilities to counter anything thrown at them; in all, five squads altogether, plus an additional squad comprised of the best trackers possible in hopes of finding some kind of trail. We've sent trackers before, but never together to cover all different areas of tracking a target." As Naruto finished explaining, Shikamaru picked up where he left off.

"After the squads are fully set up, they will group up at an agreed-to location and set out to the location of the last attack. If they can pick up any kind of trail, they will proceed to find whom they are and relay the information back to us before taking further action."

Shikamaru closed his eyes as he continued, "None of the villages will be able to simply stop fulfilling contracts, however - it's too much of a risk for us to send Genin out in the field with the chance that they will never come back. What we plan on doing is, instead of a single squad per mission, two will be sent instead, giving them a higher chance of making it back alive, finishing the request quicker and returning home."

Aeron glanced over at Tsunade, who was keeping oddly quiet. "No input, _Baa-chan_?" he derisively asked, earning a hateful glare from the Sannin.

Jiraiya's shoulders slumped and he hung his head over their petty grudge. Even after all these years, Aeron and Tsunade never saw eye to eye after he was 'forcibly reinstated.' The two constantly took jabs at one another whenever they could, throwing rank and circumstance to the wayside.

"The only reason I haven't said anything is because I'm an adviser. When I feel there is something that should be said, I will say it. Between Naruto and Shikamaru, I believe in their ability to come up with a effective plan, and they have. I can't see anything wrong with it that we can change at this point in time," she explained, a vein twitching above her right eye. "And if you call me that one more time, your going to wish you hadn't."

"ENOUGH!" Naruto shouted, stunning everyone as they all looked in his direction. The stresses from over the months had finally reached their peak. "This petty grudge the two of you have has gone on long enough," he said authoritatively while setting his sights on Aeron. "Nī-san, Baa-chan did what she thought was best. Even if you didn't want to become a ninja again, look at all that you have accomplished since then." Naruto then fixed his eyes on the former Hokage. "Baa-chan, you knew he didn't want to be re-instated as a shinobi, and while you had your reasons to force the issue, he's still a human being with his own choices to make DESPITE all the good he did afterwards."

The blond pinched the bridge of his nose, almost like a father figure scolding children. "We have a much bigger issue to deal with and I would like some opinions and agreement on a plan before Raikage-dono and Kazekage-dono leave." As Naruto finished speaking, he glanced over to Hinata for much needed support, which he received in the form of a gentle smile, before turning back to address the others one last time.

"Raikage-dono, rooms have been prepared for you, Bee-san, and your escort. Please think about all that has been said here. I expect an answer or opinion by tomorrow when we reconvene. That goes for everyone else as well," he ordered, waiting for any kind of rebuttal. He received no such flak.

A was the first to leave, practically flinging the door open on his way out, followed by Jiraiya and Gaara. Gaara stopped in the doorway and turned to Naruto, giving him a knowing smile and a short nod in approval before leaving with Shikamaru close on his heels. Tsunade and Aeron were staring intently at the floor, both feeling small after receiving their individual scoldings from Naruto about their actions. The two glanced at each other before walking out, heading the same way.

Naruto ear's perked up as he heard a distinct question being asked from the restaurant owner, "Wanna go drink our stupidity away?" The offer brought a smile to his lips, one he needed right now.

Bee, the last of the group to leave, looked over at the couple. Naruto didn't notice the look, too absorbed with something that he knew not of, but Hinata gave him a warm smile.

"I guess that I will see you two later, I'm gonna go pick Guy out of that crater," Bee remarked as he left as well.

Naruto ran the words through his head several times before he came to a conclusion. "He left Guy out there this whole time?" He covered his face with his hand in disbelief, completely forgetting that Hinata was looming over him.

"Naruto-kun, we have some unfinished business," Hinata said sweetly, reminding him of her presence. Naruto gulped loudly with his eyes wide open.

'_I had a great life..._' Was his last thought as he turned to regard his wife. He shut his eyes tightly as he awaited punishment.

Hinata did her best to stifle the giggle that wanted to come out, finding Naruto's actions adorable. Instead of punishing him as he rightfully expected, when Naruto turned towards her, she straddled his lap. The action caused Naruto's eyes to shoot open, finding her lavender orbs boring into his. She leisurely wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling affectionately.

"Even if you do deserve it, you know I couldn't bring myself to cause you any harm. However, I am hurt that you take it upon yourself to try and protect me from anything you consider dangerous. I'm not a defenseless woman who needs a knight to safeguard her, I am your wife and partner. I will always be there to help you or to give you an opinion about something, but you need to stop keeping me in the dark. You can't do everything by yourself," she consoled, wanting Naruto to know how she felt.

Naruto absorbed the information, bringing a hand up to sheepishly scratch the side of his head upon hearing her side. "I'm sorry Hinata-chan, I didn't mean to hurt you...I'm just worried something will happen again, like when we went on that mission to find the Biko-" He started to reply before being cut off when Hinata pressed her lips against his, effectively silencing him.

Out of everything that has happened between the two hanyou, that was one memory she never wanted to relive. She had buried that one particular event under a mountain of wonderful memories with Naruto and her friends in the hopes of keeping it out of her mind. Having it now brought back to the surface, sent a unpleasant shiver up her spine.

Hinata slowly pulled her lips away and smiled, doing her best to forget her past experience. "I forgive you Naruto-kun, and I always will, but promise me that you will never keep me in the dark again," she pleaded.

Naruto placed a hand on her thigh, affectionately rubbing it as he smiled back. "I promise Hinata, I will keep you informed from now on everything," he agreed, earning another kiss from Hinata. The couple held the kiss and slowly began to add onto it, finding themselves irresistibly drawn to one another as Hinata leaned forward; pressing her soft body against his well toned chest.

Naruto moved his free hand on the back of her neck to deepen the kiss while affectionately rubbing her soft skin with his thumb. Hinata let out a soft moan into his mouth, a light blush creeping across her cheeks as she enjoyed the attention she was receiving; but she wanted more from him than just a kiss. She opened her mouth and ran the tip of her tongue across his lips, asking for entry while slightly grinding her hips against his own.

Naruto, enjoying the attention just as much as she was, as he opened his mouth and flicked his tongue against hers. As he instigated the battle of the tongues, he slide his hand up her thigh to the small of her back, pulling her fully against him. Hinata closed her lips around his tongue and sucked on the muscle, teasing him further as she felt his manhood begin to harden beneath her.

Not to be outdone by his wife, he moved the hand on her neck slowly up through her soft hair and gently rubbed her sensitive fox ears; eliciting a loud moan from the woman, her back arching from the pleasurable rubbing of her ear. The blush on her cheeks deepened as he continued to knead her ear between his fingers, doing her best to keep the noise down in case someone happened by.

Having had enough, Hinata removed Naruto's hand from her ear, placing it instead on her ample behind as she once again attacked his lips. She felt his hand tighten on her butt, drawing another moan into his mouth as they kissed once more. The couple were so focused on one another that neither heard the knock on the door. Or the knock after that.

"Hokage-sama, is everything alright?" Called an unfamiliar voice, drawing the two from one another.

"I suppose that means we have to stop?" Naruto asked, breathing slightly heavy from their endeavor.

"Unfortunately...but don't think this gets you off the hook," she replied. A sly smile worked it's way on her lips as she kissed her husband one more before managing her way off of his lap. She ran her hands across her dress to smooth it out, then began to make her way to the door.

Naruto's eyes were glued to the sway of her hips, a variety of things running through his mind. Feeling his gaze on her backside, Hinata stopped and glanced back at him, smiling sweetly. "Later tonight love," she commented before opening the door.

"Oh, Lady Hinata, it's a pleasure to see you," greeted the Jōnin who knocked on the door.

"You as well," she replied, "My husband will see you now." She moved out of the way for the man to enter, letting Naruto get back to business while returning to her own chore. Having dealt with Naruto's behavior, a weight felt lifted from her shoulders as she made her way to the store to shop, a slight spring in her step.

"Hokage-sama, I'm here to report on my squads latest mission," the shinobi informed the blond whilst bowing respectfully.

"Good, let's hear it then," Naruto replied as he got comfortable in his chair. As he listened to the report, it reminded him of his earlier statement, a memory that still plagued him to this day. He mentally scolded himself for bringing it up in the first place, knowing that the memory still pained Hinata just as much as it affected him; yet, upon beating himself up over the matter, the mental pictures were drawn more into focus, no matter how much he didn't want to recall that terrible day.

The day that scarred both of them.


	13. A Fool's Promise

**Hello everyone! Terribly sorry to have left you all hanging for so long with no updates, but it's been quite a challenge these last few months. First, I hit a phase where I really didn't want to do much of anything, no tv, no games, no writing, a lot of staring at a wall mindlessly. After that faded, I took up writing again and wrote about half of the chapter before being told by Soulfistx that it sucked and I should re-write it. Kinda pissed me off to be honest, not gonna lie, but still, I did it and the end result was apparently MUCH better in his opinion than the original. Anyway, then came out Diablo 3 for console, never played it until now. AWESOME game, loved the others, loved this one, played the hell out of it. Also, got a new job, so between Diablo 3 and work, my schedule has been kind of...busy. So between this than and the other thing, that is why it took so long for this chapter to finally be released to you guys; however, I do not want you all to lose faith that I am going to quit. I will continue writing as I can between work and my gaming, so it may take a week or two for a new chapter. I admit, I am not as good of a writer as most others and this stuff doesn't come naturally to me most times, others, it just kinda flows ya know?**

**Anyway, I would like to thank you all for your continued support. Soul, for your constant badgering me to get this thing done and your input through my writing process and everything else that you've done for me up to this point.**

**I would like to point out that at this time, I haven't really touched up on any of the edits that I had originally planned to do, due to in part to all the stuff I listed off earlier, but I felt you guys deserved an update before I tried touching up those earlier chapters again, so please bear with me.**

**This chapter is by far, the longest and most pain in the ass I've ever had the pleasure to have written, but I hope you all enjoy it!**

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"_Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he charged out of the cave. Despite his target being ahead of him, he couldn't resist looking back. He had the strangest feeling that he had seen this all before – the cave, chasing after Sasuke, hearing the last words Neji said to him before leaving him to fight one of the Oto. Quickly shaking himself of the feeling, he focused his attention once more ahead of him, towards his friend. _

_Getting lost in the cave set him back further than he thought as he jumped from branch to branch in an attempt to keep up with his friend. As he pressed on, he felt the oddest sensation of being watched. By what, he couldn't say as he looked around, trying to find whatever was causing this unease. Unable to detect anything in the immediate area, Naruto focused on the task at hand, brushing it off as possibly Sasuke looking at him from ahead._

_'I have to pick up my pace, otherwise, I'm going to lose Sasuke,' he thought to himself, forcing his body to go faster to make up time. The long list of trees that lined his path seemed to blur together, all looking so similar to one another, as if he was running in circles. For what felt like hours, he pushed forward, hearing a dull roar in the distance. Naruto payed it little heed, until the sound grew increasingly louder the longer he chased after Sasuke._

_'What is that?' he wondered, having never heard such a sound before. His whole body ached from fatigue, having received little rest since the start of this pursuit – but this wasn't the time to give up, he was so close to finally catching Sasuke and bringing him back home. A light appeared ahead of him, an opening in the tree line that signaled the end of the lush, green 'tunnel'. With renewed vigor, he forged on, setting his body's plea for rest aside._

_Upon clearing the forest, he took no notice of where he was or what was around him; not the two lakes, not the two cyclopean stone statues resembling two of the greatest shinobi in Konoha history, not even the raging waterfall between the statues. His sight was fixed ahead of him, where his friend and teammate was walking across the head of the opposite statue._

"_Sasuke!" He shouted as loud as he could over the roar of the waterfall. "Are you going to run away from me?"_

_Despite the great distance between the two statues they stood upon, Naruto was able to make out that Sasuke had stopped. Slowly, he began to turn, the simple act took forever for Naruto, who knew something was wrong. This wasn't the same Sasuke he had known._

"_So," he started once fully turned around, "It's the clumsy idiot this time?" Sasuke asked in his usual detached tone. "I already told Sakura, but...don't concern yourself with me anymore."_

_Naruto was shocked at the statement. 'Does he honestly think that I would just let him leave everything behind just like that? That I would let him give up his life for nothing?'_

_With no answer coming from Naruto, Sasuke rested his knuckles on his hips and leaned forward in a questioning manner. "What's with that face?" he asked with a chuckle._

"_Why..." Naruto asked with clenched teeth, his arms shaking with rage. "Why did you become like this?!" he shouted, making several exaggerated movements in his obvious confusion and anger._

_Sasuke straightened and held his arms at his sides. "What does it matter to you, whatever I become?" The black haired boy replied in a calm, even tone, his brow slightly furrowed in annoyance. "I have my own path to follow. No matter who it is, nobody has the right to tell me what to do." _

_Naruto gnashed his teeth together in anger. 'Doesn't Sasuke realize that he cared what would happen to him in the clutches of Orochimaru? That everyone was worried about him and wanted to help him?_

"_To put it simple enough for even an idiot like you to understand, I am not going to associate with Konoha anymore." Sasuke declared with an even tone. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Naruto burst into action._

_Darting his left hand back towards his weapon pouch, he quickly pulled free a kunai and threw it in Sasuke's direction while jumping off the statue. He watched as Sasuke didn't make the slightest of movements until the kunai was within arm's length before his right hand shot up and grabbed the weapon in mid flight. Going with the motion of the weapon, Sasuke cocked his arm backwards then snapped it forward in Naruto's direction, who was now running across the lake. The 'splash' accompanying his foot steps being suppressed by the overwhelming roar of the waterfall as the weapon was returned to it's owner._

"_Be honest with yourself, dobe, do you believe you can defeat me and take me back to that worthless village?" Sasuke asked while watching Naruto get closer by the second. With the closing distance, Naruto was able to clearly see that Sasuke was indeed different. _

_Sasuke now adorned a pair of mixed colored eyes. His right eye was its normal onyx color, while his left was anything but; the iris had become a yellowish color ringed by two darker circles and the rest of his eye was black. Along his left cheek were distinctive black flame marks running down to the curse mark on his neck._

_So absorbed was he with Sasuke's change, he barely managed to dodge the incoming threat with a quick side step, turning with the weapon as it cut across his side. Grimacing from the pain, he looked down at the bleeding wound, then up at Sasuke. Was Sasuke really trying to kill him? If that was the case, then it was time to get serious._

_While running, he brought his hands in front of him, extending both his index and middle finger on each hand and crossing the fingers to form the necessary seal. "**Kage Bunshin no jutsu**!" He shouted while summoning the chakra needed for the jutsu. With the completion of the act, two clones appeared in a puff of smoke flanking him, each holding the same seal._

_He and the clones released the seal simultaneously and each came to a screeching halt atop the water. Naruto extended his arms out for each clone, the left extending his right hand to clasp his wrist and the right turning around to also use his right hand. With the clones in place, Naruto began to twist and turn his body in a clockwise rotation with the clones running in the same direction to help build up momentum. _

_As Naruto began spinning faster and faster on the balls of his feet like a top, the clones became airborne, flying through the air. Naruto kept a focal point, despite everything becoming a blur as he spun around and around, he knew exactly where he needed to launch his clone projectiles. Abruptly bringing his heel down, he stopped his rotation. Keeping enough chakra in his feet to allow him to still spin by momentum alone, he caught sight of Sasuke. Throwing his arm forward with all the strength he could muster, he quickly let go the clone at the apex of the throw, launching the clone towards his friend. Naruto continued to spin with his last clone until his back was to Sasuke, but Naruto knew just when to let loose his last projectile. Even with the awkward angle, he forced whatever energy and power he could, throwing his right arm backwards towards his target; upon reaching the apex once again, both Naruto and his clone released their holds of one another, sending the clone zooming through the air with his partner clone towards Sasuke. _

_Without a second to spare, Naruto once again formed the familiar seal, "**Kage Bunshin no jutsu"**. In a cloud of smoke, a clone stood to each side of him and one directly behind him. Extending his arms to his sides, the clones clasped onto his wrists as he jumped up while folding his legs to his chest so that the clone behind him could grab a hold of his feet. Now in position, the clones with his arms simultaneously began to pull back and lurch forward, throwing him forward while he pumped chakra into his feet. Pushing off with his feet and being thrown forward, Naruto became a human missile, coming in right behind his clones ahead of him. _

_Sasuke stood there, seemingly unimpressed and disinterested with the whole display and made no move as the projectiles closed in. Only as the first clone came within several feet of its intended target did Sasuke act. The clone extended out an arm to catch the its target, only for Sasuke to step out of range and grab onto the clones arm. Using the clones own forward momentum, he spun the clone all the way around to let the clone go only to collide with the second clone coming towards him. As the two impacted and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Naruto burst through the barrier flying straight towards Sasuke. Sasuke stood there, the strangest smile on his face as Naruto barreled into him._

_When the two connected with the ground with Naruto atop of Sasuke, Naruto quickly cocked his left arm back while curling his fingers into a tight fist. With a quick jerk of the muscles in his arms, the fist came crashing against Sasuke's cheek. The action jerked Sasuke's head to the right, which was met by Naruto's right fist coming in from the opposite direction to connect with the other side of his face._

"_How could you think of us like that?!" Naruto shouted, rage fueling each consecutive punch as he continued his assault. Sasuke never even lifted a finger to stop Naruto as he played out his anger. With a final left hook, Naruto was forced to stop; his muscles ached, his knuckles were bloodied and sore, his body was fatigued and begged for an end as he breathed in every labored breath. _

_Sasuke had several cuts along each side of his face, but seemed not to notice. An odd smile found its way across his lips as he chuckled, his eye never leaving Naruto's. The noise rekindled Naruto's anger as he quickly grabbed onto Sasuke's collar with his right hand and pulled back his left, hoping that this last punch will knock his friend out. Just as Naruto was about to send his fist forward, Sasuke spit out a large glob of blood to land on his cheek, chuckling once again. _

"_Why you..." Naruto chocked as he sent his fist forward, only to be intercepted by Sasuke's hand._

"_Us? You think I care about anyone in that village? Have I gotten stronger because of any of our so called comrades?" Sasuke spat. He began to squeeze his hand around Naruto's fist with a strength that was unknown to the blond. Naruto immediately tried to pry Sasuke's hand off of his own as Sasuke added more and more pressure, but his efforts were futile. With a sickening crunch, Naruto started to scream as he felt his fingers breaking, only to be cut off as Sasuke's other hand grabbed him around his neck and began to lift him up._

"_I'm going to Orochimaru. He has already shown me a fraction of the power that I can achieve, and there is nothing you can do to stop me," Sasuke said as he stood up, holding Naruto aloof, who was struggling at the hand around his neck for air. _

"_He...just wants...you as a...container," Naruto managed to whisper, "You...might get...killed."_

"_That doesn't matter to me, so long as I get the power that I need," Sasuke replied as he let go of Naruto's neck. Before Naruto was able to take in his first breath of air, Sasuke spun around quickly while lifting and extending his right leg. Naruto saw what was coming, but was unable to react to the quick motion as Sasuke's momentum played into kick right into Naruto's side. He felt a few of his ribs break under the impact as he was sent flying towards the rocky bank._

_Naruto saw the ground coming up to meet him, the rocks inviting him to his death. He tried to right himself in the air, but the overwhelming pain in his side hampered his movements and with his left hand useless, he was unable to use any kind of jutsu. As the ground came closer and closer, something jumped in front of Naruto and grabbed onto him. The figure hit the ground first, taking most of the impact as the two rolled across the bank. After coming to a halt, Naruto looked up to his rescuer to find that it was one of his clones; in his earlier rage, he had completely forgotten that he had a few shadow clones about._

_He wasn't able to dwell on that thought for very long when both Narutos' looked up in time to see a large fireball heading in their direction. The blaze roared loudly as it came closer and closer with Naruto in no state to evade. Through the quick thinking of the clone who had saved him from his fall, it grabbed its creator and with whatever strength it could muster, tossed Naruto into the nearby lake as the flames washed over it. Even underwater, Naruto could feel the heat of the destructive flame as it impacted the ground where he was just seconds ago. Mentally thanking his clone for the save, he surfaced up for breath._

_The first thing he saw as he came up was the blackened scorch mark where the fireball had landed. Having just escaped death, Naruto didn't notice that Sasuke was no longer standing atop of the statue . Indeed, he was much, much closer._

"_I think your clones are more useful than you are." Sasuke, who was now standing next to Naruto, commented without looking at him. Naruto, upon realizing that his opponent was standing right next to him, made an attempt to put distance between them, but with Naruto being in the water and Sasuke standing on it, his attempt was futile. Before Naruto could move even a few inches, Sasuke briskly grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and lifted him out of the water with his left hand._

"_Do you honestly believe that you, a disgrace to the meaning of being a ninja, could possibly do anything to stop me?" Sasuke asked. Naruto tried to struggle under the iron grip, but his weak attempt to break free was useless. "How many of our 'comrades'," he venomously spat, "came with you on your ridiculous quest?Where are they now?"_

_Naruto stopped struggling when the question sank in. Sasuke was right wasn't he? Out of his companions – Choji, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, each had stayed behind to fight a foe that was far stronger than them. Were they even alive? Had they given their lives up for nothing if he couldn't bring Sasuke back? _

_'No,' he thought, 'they're still alive, they have to be. Even if they weren't, giving up wouldn't honor their sacrifice!' _

_A look of determination came across Naruto face; a new resolve to fight with EVERYTHING he had. Naruto closed his eyes and fell into himself, searching for the source of tremendous power within himself. As he did, he was blind to the smug smile that found its way across Sasuke's lips._

_The air in the tunnel Naruto found himself in upon opening his eyes was...off. Usually whenever he came to see the fox, the air hung thick with anger and hatred, but this time...there was nothing. Naruto stood before the enormous cage that normally housed the entity trapped within his body, only to find it empty. _

"_Where are you, you damn fox?!" Naruto shouted into the cage, his question bouncing off the walls to echo through the cage and down the tunnel behind him. He was met only with silence. Naruto began to worry, where could the fox have gone off to? Wasn't he trapped inside this cage? That wasn't entirely true, he thought, Kurama had shown that he was able to move outside of the cage, leaving most of his 'essence' trapped within the confines of his prison. If that were true though, where was it? Where was he?_

_Naruto closed his eyes and searched within himself for any sign of the fox within his body. What he found was...disturbing. Where once he could easily feel the fox's chakra, he was met with a void where it should have been. _

"_Looking for help?" Called a familiar voice, one that Naruto was not expecting, especially inside of his own head. Naruto's eyes shot open as he turned to gaze upon the figure of Sasuke, only to be met with a vicious right hook to his face._

_Naruto's eyes immediately opened as he gasped from the pain coursing across his face. Sasuke hadn't moved a muscle the whole time that Naruto was inside of his mind scape, but he still felt the effects of that punch. _

"_For all your words and promises, it seems you can't do anything by yourself, can you? I saw that power you have inside of you at the Chūnin exams. Without that power, you're nothing and will continue to be nothing," Sasuke remarked while still holding Naruto up. "Just how many times have you used that chakra at a time that you were at your most dire? Your all bark, dobe."_

_Sasuke cocked his right arm back, his fingers curled into a tight fist. "It's time we ended this little game, I would say that it has been nice knowing you, but we both know that would be a lie." A evil, yet somehow familiar grin crossed Sasuke's face as he launched his arm forward. Naruto closed his eyes, awaiting the blow to come. Long, drawn out seconds passed, yet nothing came, except a chuckle from Sasuke._

_"Like I said, your clones are more useful than you are," he laughed. Naruto opened his eyes at the comment to see that a clone had grabbed Sasuke's arm, stopping the attack mid swing. Movement behind Sasuke drew Naruto's attention and the sight made his heart soar; one of his last clones, with a look of grim determination, was charging at Sasuke's blind spot with a rasengan held in it's hand. _

_'I can still do this, I just have to keep him distracted long enough to-' Naruto mentally though, but was cut off when Sasuke's eyes returned to his. _

"_You think I don't know what's behind me?" Sasuke remarked with a smile. The clone jumped towards Sasuke, the hand with the rasengan leading the way, but never got the chance to hit it's target as Sasuke let go of Naruto and ducked under the swirling ball of chakra. Seeing that if it didn't stop it's attack, it would hit the falling Naruto, the clone quickly dispelled the jutsu. _

_Just as one danger passed, another presented itself as Sasuke's now free left hand shot up into the face of the clone as it passed over his shoulder. As the clone erupted into smoke, Naruto was just landing on his feet as Sasuke free arm swung across and forcefully dispelled the clone holding his right arm captive away with a powerful jab._

_Before Naruto could so much as react to his new found freedom, he felt both of Sasuke's hands grab onto the back of his head and with unimaginable strength, forced his head down. The next thing he felt was the crunch of cartilage as his face met Sasuke's knee, breaking his nose and blinding him with pain. As Naruto's body began to recoil from the impact, he never saw the right hook coming as it collided with his jaw. Naruto felt the air whipping around him as he was sent spinning towards the water's surface, but he never felt the cool water against him as a leg came up into his gut. _

_Blood spewed out of Naruto's mouth from the blow, knocking the wind out of him. Was this the end? Was he able to do nothing? Is he going to die here by the hands of his own friend? As the thoughts ran through his head, a pair of hands roughly grabbed him by his shoulders. He barely felt the wind whipping around his numb body as Sasuke spun him through the air. After a few spins to build up momentum, the hands let go, sending Naruto speeding towards the bank._

_'Shit." Was Naruto's only thought at he tried to bring his arms up to cover his battered face, but it was useless; his body would not heed his call. Naruto closed his eyes as the rocks came within inches of his face, but a sudden pull at his legs stopped him from going any further. His eyes opened once again to see the world spinning as Sasuke, with strength that Naruto didn't think he possessed, swung him up over his head. With a sudden snap of his muscles, Sasuke swung Naruto forward, slamming the blond face first into the rocks._

_Blood filled his mouth and nose, causing the blond to open his mouth just enough to where the blood would drain and allow him to breathe. The rocks had done their part, breaking bones along Naruto's face and closing one eye forever. He tried to crawl away, to do anything to get away from the slowly approaching footsteps that spelled his death, but only his legs worked, futilely pushing rocks this way and that in his uncoordinated scramble._

"_Hn, that's something we're going to have to fix," Sasuke said with a sadistic tone before placing a foot on Naruto's lower back. Panic filled Naruto as he knew what was about to happen, his legs kicking all the harder to try and get away, but with no success. He felt the foot leave his back for only a second as Sasuke lifted it as high as he could before stomping down onto Naruto's spine. A scream blew from his lungs as he felt the bone break and his legs went limp. Naruto couldn't move, without his arms or legs, he was completely at the mercy of the Uchiha above him. He felt something cold and smooth to the touch begin to coil around his neck, signaling that his life was soon to end. Helpless to impede its progress, Naruto felt more join it followed by the occasional hiss as his vision began to fade._

"_You have failed, boy" spoke a voice that, despite Naruto's condition, made his body shiver. The 'thing' around his neck began to lift and turn his body so he faced Sasuke once more and the sight before him brought him back from the edge of unconsciousness. The first thing that Naruto's eye fell upon was that the arm that was extended towards him wasn't really an arm. It was in fact several scaled bodies of snakes that acted in the arms place, which accounted for the hissing in his ear and the occasional forked tongue flicking across his skin. Following up the arm towards Sasuke's face, his heart froze._

_Part of the right side of Sasuke's face had been peeled off, revealing extremely pale white skin underneath. Both eyes had turned to a golden hue with slits, but the right eye had a purple mark running over the eye and down underneath the upper layer of Sasuke's skin. "Sasuke-kun was mine the day I gifted him with my curse mark. All your efforts to try and stop him were in vain," he chuckled. As he finished, his obscenely long tongue flicked out and ran the length of his lower lip, curling with the motion before vanishing back into his mouth. Without warning, Sasuke lurched forward, mouth open wide with fangs and razor sharp teeth exposed to strike the finishing blow..._

* * *

Naruto shouted as he jerked up into a sitting position; his arms held in front of him in a defensive manner, his heart beating rapidly in his chest with his body in a cold sweat as his eyes darted back and forth. Finding himself in no immediate danger, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"It was just a dream..." he sighed. Reflexively, he moved a hand to his eyes to rub the sleep from them when it brushed against his nose, making him wince in pain. With the pain from his nose, other areas began to flare up – his left hand that was crushed, the ribs in the left side of his chest that were broken, everything that was affected in his dream throbbed with a dull pain. '_What is going on?_' The thought was interrupted by the door to his hospital room opening to a friendly face.

"So, your finally awake. You had us all a little worried there," Aeron said with a grin, his toothpick moving with each word. "How are you feeling?"

Naruto managed a smile to mask the pain that he was in. "I feel great!" He shouted with his usual fervor as his eyes began to wander the room. "But...where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, in your usual room that has been assigned to you since you live here more often then you do your own apartment," Aeron sighed while walking over to the nearby bench. "I suppose the best question to ask is, what do you remember?"

Naruto stared at the man for several seconds before, subconsciously, bringing his left hand up to scratch at the side of his head in thought. The second a finger touched his cheek, pain ignited along the whole hand, causing him to reflexively drop the hand to its original position with a grimace. Aeron, who now sat comfortably with his arms crossed on the bench, made no indication that he noticed.

'_He's been out for four days and with Kurama's chakra, he should have been fully healed despite his wounds. Why is he still in pain?_' he mulled. His eyes never left Naruto, who was finding it difficult to recall much of anything.

With a a raised eyebrow, Aeron decided it was time to help."You recall going on a mission with Jiraiya a few months ago?" Naruto's gaze fell upon Aeron with recognition.

"Yea! Me, Hinata and Ero-Sennin went in search of Baa-chan and then we got in a fight with..." Naruto stopped as his dream resurfaced, the final image of Sasuke burned into his mind. Hoping that it really all was just a dream, he asked the question that was now plaguing him. "Where is Sasuke?"

Aeron closed his eyes, not wanting to see Naruto reaction to the news. "When Kakashi found you, you were unconscious, but there was no sign of Sasuke. My guess is that after he was finished with you, he joined up with Orochimaru." He opened his eyes and the sight of Naruto's solemn face broke his heart.

Naruto couldn't believe it, Sasuke was gone. He had let everyone down, including himself. As images of the battle with his friend flashed through his mind, he recalled using the Kyūbi's chakra. '_But if I was using it, why wasn't I able to bring back Sasuke?_' He clenched his fist in anger at his own inability.

"However, there is good news. Your friends all made it and have either fully recovered or are on their way," he added with a smile. Naruto visibly brightened at the news.

"Choji? Neji? They're all okay?"

Aeron gave an affirmative nod. "There were a few close calls, but the worst is over. Shikamaru got away with only a broken finger, Kiba and his dog lost a lot of blood, but are fine now. Neji and Choji were the worst, but thanks to the Hokage, they will be alright in no time as well."

Naruto couldn't help the grin that spread across his lips upon hearing that the team that went with him was okay. '_If anyone had died to give me the chance of bringing back Sasuke, only to fail them..._'

Aeron got up suddenly, drawing Naruto from his thoughts. "Anyway kid, it's good to know that your finally up. I got some errands I need to run, but I'll let Tsunade know you're awake." As he opened the door and stood in the doorway, footsteps echoed down the hall. Glancing in its direction, a grin broke across his face. "Ah, 'Nurse Hinata'," he teased, "you have impeccable timing. Your patient is awake." The proclamation caused the steps to increase in tempo and volume as Aeron moved out of the way to allow the girl by.

As Hinata came into his field of vision, he put on his characteristic grin and closed his eyes. "Hey Hinata! Didn't mean to worry you." He said in his normally loud manner.

Hinata was relieved that Naruto was finally awake. She had made an effort to visit him everyday and take care of his needs while he was unconscious, even if her father knew nothing of her visits. As far as he was aware, she was checking up on Neji, who was still unable to leave.

As relieved as she was to see him up, she could tell that he was hiding something. "I'll just leave you two alone. Naruto, when ever your able to get your butt out of bed, stop by my place. I'm sure your stomach will thank me," Aeron said with a two-fingered salute before closing the door. As he walked off towards his meeting, he grew more and more concerned about Naruto.

The thought of food had Naruto unconsciously licking his lips, he felt like he hadn't eaten in a month. He knew however, that he was in no condition to leave just yet. Before he could travel down that train of thought any further, a soft, melodic voice called to him.

"Naruto-kun, you're still in pain, aren't you." Hinata stated more so than asked. Over the years of admiring him from afar, she had only a glimpse of Naruto's emotional side; a side of himself that he chose to hide from nearly everyone except a select few, and even then it was rare. But with the time they have spent together over the last few months training or simply getting to know one another, she could read past his defenses and see that there was something amiss.

Naruto looked at her and opened his mouth in an attempt at rebuttal, but soon banished the thought with a slump of his shoulders. He couldn't lie to her, even if he could, she would know it for what it was. "I had a dream about my fight with Sasuke," he replied while casting his gaze towards his feet. "It was completely different than the real thing, I didn't even stand a chance. Now, everything that happened in the dream feels like it really did happen to me."He looked over at his left hand and gingerly bent his fingers inward into a fist, clenching his jaw against the pain.

Hinata moved over to him and gently placed a hand over his fist in a comforting manner as he continued. "The Kyūbi was nowhere to be found and Sasuke was...different."

"Different?"

"It was Sasuke, but there was something...off. I can't really put my finger on it." Only as he finished did he realize Hinata's closeness. Slowly uncurling his hand, he turned it over and locked fingers with hers. The two found their gazes drawn to one another, with Naruto visibly brightening due to her smile. "I really appreciate you taking care of me, Hinata."

Hinata lightly blushed, but did not look away – as was per usual whenever she spoke to Naruto, showing just how far she had come with her shyness. "I was happy to help," she happily replied. The two continued to look at one another, their eyes glancing at various features on one another's face: her soft, unblemished skin, his cute whisker-like marks on his cheeks, her light lavender eyes, his deep blue orbs. Before too long, their vision fell onto each others lips, both having the strongest urge to feel them pressed against their own. As the two began to slowly lean towards each other, bodily needs reared its ugly head as Naruto's empty gut growled loudly.

"Aww man...I'm starving..." he groaned while moving his empty hand to his stomach.

"I'll go get you something to eat," Hinata giggled before setting off out of the room, closing the door behind her. Naruto let out a sigh when he was sure she was no longer near. He appreciated everything that she had done for him and for her company; but he really wanted to be alone, gather his thoughts on the whole situation.

He laid back onto the bed and closed his eyes, letting everything fully sink in. Sasuke was gone, his teammates that went with him to retrieve Sasuke are healed or on their way to recovery – excluding himself, which he knew was not going anywhere until this pain was dealt with. Pulling his fingers in on his left hand, he squeezed his fist, hearing the audible pop of his knuckles as he fought through the pain. '_How could I have let Sasuke slip away like that?_'

"**Because you're weak.**" Naruto opened his eyes at the voice, finding himself in the all-too familiar tunnel of his mind. Standing directly in front of him was the imposing figure of the Kyūbi in his human disguise. "**You've always been weak and will continue to be so because you have no natural talent except sheer fool's luck; but when luck isn't enough, you have me, the only reason your still alive now."**

Naruto bit back his normally brash comment due only to curiosity at the fox's last statement. "What do you mean that I'm alive because of you?"

A smug smirk formed on Kurama's lips. "**I've saved your life three times now within the last couple of months, boy: when the pervert pushed you into that canyon, when the Suna kid was about to crush you with sand and just recently when the Sharingan brat killed you."**

"Sasuke...killed..." Naruto choked.

"**He drove your thick head into the ground and broke your neck."** Kurama remarked, enjoying Naruto's shocked expression. "**I took pity on your worthless hide and healed your wounds in the hope that you could defeat him,**" Kurama closed his eye and continued with a annoyed sigh. "**But even with my power, you failed.**"

Naruto stared at the fox, before finding his gaze drawn to the water at his feet. Images of his fight with Sasuke flashed in his mind: being lit on fire, Sasuke picking him up and throwing him into the air before being grabbed and the ground quickly filling his vision. Then there was a void before the next thing he remembered was being surrounded in the Kyūbi's chakra.

Kurama nodded as he saw the same images. "**That void in your memory, was your death.**"

Naruto's head jerked up as he regarded the Kyūbi. "You can see my memories?

Kurama opened his eye. "**I may be trapped inside of your body, but that doesn't mean that I am completely oblivious to everything that happens to you. Most of the time, I catch glimpses of the outside world – trees blowing in the wind, birds chirping, the earth beneath your feet. The one singular thing I always receive from you is your emotions, none of which I care for except your hatred and anger. **Kurama stopped, letting his slow-witted host fully absorb everything before continuing on. "**When you use my chakra, I feel everything more vividly since I am now apart of your body instead of being stuck in this cage; thus, when you are using my chakra, I see everything you see, feel everything you feel, hear everything you hear and remember everything that happens to you just as you would.**"

Naruto blinked several times as the knowledge sank in. "So you felt everything when..."

"**At every instance when you used my chakra to escape death's cold embrace,**" Kurama finished for him. "**By the way, did you have any pleasant dreams, boy?**"

"Oh come on! You get my dreams too?!" Naruto barked.

"**Watch your tongue, brat. I'd rather not get ANYTHING from you, but we can't always get what we want,**" Kurama growled. The two stared at one another with Naruto more or less glaring at the fox suspiciously.

"What do you care? And why are you being less evil than usual?" he questioned.

"**I could just kill you,**" Kurama said without the slightest bit of hesitation, a slight smile forming on his lips at the thought.

Naruto waved his hands back and forth in front of him in a hurried manner. "T-that's not what I meant! I just meant that you've never been nice to me at all!"

Kurama looked at the boy with an amused smile. "**Beating you within an inch of your life is only fun for so long, consider yourself lucky. Now answer the question."**

Naruto's vision fell once more to the floor as he began recalling his dream. "I don't really know what to make of it," he finally admitted.

"**Why am I not surprised. After all, I am talking to the kid who couldn't even master a simple clone jutsu,**" Kurama commented with slight agitation. "**The meaning of your dream is quite simple...you can't do anything without me.**"

Naruto's attention snapped back to Kurama. "How could you know that?"

"**Are you stupid? I may be the embodiment of hatred, but that doesn't mean that I lack the intelligence to understand a great many things. There is one key difference between your two fights..."** Kurama watched the boy as he ran the details of the fights through his mind.

"I don't get what I'm supposed to –" Naruto began before a Kurama suddenly picked the boy up by the neck of his jacket and pulled him close. The anger that the fox emitted from his person was overwhelming.

"**Me. You stood a chance against your friend ONLY because of me; in your dream, you failed the second you couldn't access my power. In fact, you're whole life revolves around me."**

"What do you mean?" He asked in disbelief.

"**If it wasn't for me, the village wouldn't have hated you and you would have never have wanted to become 'Hokage'" **he spat, hating the word with every fiber of his being. **"You would be just a regular kid."**

"That's a lie!" Naruto shouted at the fox, earning an annoyed "**Hn."**

"**Believe what you will, brat. I'm done with your insufferable whimpering.**" With a slight flick of his wrist, he tossed Naruto through the air and with a great surge of chakra, forced the boy out of his own mind.

* * *

Naruto blinked several times as he returned back to reality. Glancing around, he found that he was still alone – as with every other time that he was in his mind scape, not a second had passed. Naruto sighed and brought a hand up to rub his eyes, but stopped just as his fingers brushed across his brow; the pain reminding him that it wasn't a good idea to touch any part of his body just yet. Laying his hand back down, he thought about the Kyūbi's words.

_**'He drove your thick head into the ground and broke your neck...'**_

"..."

_**'That void in your memory, was your death...'**_

"..."

_**'The meaning of your dream is quite simple...you can't do anything without me...'**_

"..."

_**'If it wasn't for me, the village wouldn't have hated you and you would have never have wanted to become 'Hokage...'**_

Was the Kyūbi right? Would his life have been different if this demon wasn't inside of him? Naruto also couldn't deny the fact that Sasuke, his friend, had killed him, even if for a brief amount of time and the demon that possibly altered his whole life had revived him. Doubt began to eat at him when he heard a soft knock on the door. He turned as the door was opening to reveal Hinata cradling a bowl in her hands.

"I brought you some soup," she informed him. "That way, you don't have to chew and be in more pa-" She stopped in her tracks when she her eyes fell upon Naruto. He looked pale and his eyes seemed to have lost some of their usual luster. "Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" She asked as she walked quickly over to him while putting the bowl down on the nearby table.

Naruto shook his head. "It's nothing. Thank you for the soup," he replied a little more curtly than intended. Hinata lightly bit her lower lip to stop herself from speaking. She knew that Naruto had been through a lot and was curious as to what happened to him within the past few minutes to bring about this sudden change; but she decided against any action, Naruto would tell her when he was ready.

Remembering the reason for her return, she picked up the bowl and scooped up some of it in the spoon. The motion caught Naruto's attention – who previously was wearing a five-mile stare – as he beheld the spoon held out towards him.

"Hinata..."

"I don't know what happened between you and Sasuke, nor what happened since I left this room, but I am always here for you when you need me, Naruto-kun. Until you're fully healed, I will take care of you," she said with a light blush on her cheeks.

Naruto blinked several times at her, then down at the spoon. The thought of her having fed him in a similar manner the whole time he had been unconscious brought a blush to his cheeks as he opened his mouth for her. With each spoonful of soup, with every eye contact and smile she made, his doubts began to slowly fade away. He felt at peace. There was no way the fox was right; even if he was, perhaps it was worth it in the end. Because of the fox, he had the friends that he had, the people he cherished in his life – none more so than the girl that was sitting on his hospital bed in front of him.

As she fed him the last of the soup, Naruto was about to thank her when there was a loud explosion followed by what felt like an earthquake. The sudden noise caused Hinata to jump, dropping the bowl in the process, causing it to shatter on the ground..

"What the hell was that?!" Naruto blurted as Hinata ran over to the window, quickly pulling the curtains out of the way. Had she not already seen the man before, the sight that welcomed her would have shocked her. Outside was a giant orange toad, nearly as tall as the hospital, with none other than the Toad Sage himself standing on it's head.

"Jiraiya-sama?" Hinata questioned as she opened the window, followed by "Ero-Sennin?" from Naruto.

The silver-haired sage turned towards the Hyūga girl with a grin. "Yo."

"What are you doing here?" Naruto shouted from his bed.

Jiraiya took a few steps towards the window and made the small jump between the building and the toad. Hinata moved away as he stood on the window sill, turned around and sat down in the window's opened frame.

"I heard that you were awake, but I had to see it for myself. You look like a mess, kid."

Both Jiraiya and Hinata couldn't help but smile at the boyish grin on Naruto's face at the comment.

"I'll be out of here before you know it!" the blond stated eagerly.

"That's good to hear," Jiraiya replied. "But, checking up on you wasn't the only reason I stopped by. I've come today to tell you something important." The two teens focused on the man as his tone became more serious. "From here on, as my official disciple, I'll train you to become a full-fledged shinobi in three years."

Naruto couldn't contain his excitement. "You mean it? You're really gonna train me?"

Hinata smiled at him: she was glad to see that he had returned to his old self. In the short time it took for Naruto to become excited, he suddenly became puzzled as the rest of the sentence ran through his head.

"Wait...three years?"

Jiraiya nodded. "I've received some credible information from a certain source concerning the 'Akatsuki'."

Hinata shivered at the mention of the group as she recalled her meeting with two of the members – the shark-like Kisame Hoshigaki and none other than Sasuke's brother, Itachi Uchiha.

"It seems that it will be three or four years before they come after you next," Jiraiya finished.

"I don't care about that..." Naruto said after several seconds of silence. Hinata stared at Naruto in shock. Wasn't this what Naruto wanted?

Jiraiya furrowed his brow, waiting for the blonde to elaborate.

"I have to go after Sasuke immediately, if I don't, he might be killed by Orochimaru! I don't have time to do some slowpoke training!"

The sage relaxed as a smirk crossed his face. "It seems you've learned of the true purpose for Orochimaru seeking Sasuke. I looked into Orochimaru's 'Fuishi Tensei', it seems that with the jutsu, he can't reincarnate into the next body for three years. He just recently reincarnated as he was unable to wait for Sasuke any longer... It'll be okay for three years from now... There is time."

"That's not a lie is it?!" Naruto asked, leaning forward as he waited for an answer. Hinata looked at the two males, not fully understanding the conversation, but able to grasp the general concept.

"Nope..." Jiraiya answered the blonde, causing the blond to sigh in relief. "However...forget about Sasuke..."

Both teens looked at the man in shock. "Sasuke went to Orochimaru on his own accord. No matter what you do, he won't change. Sasuke and Orochimaru are cut from the same cloth. If you're thinking about bringing him back, just forget it. That's something an arrogant fool would do."

"But he's my friend!"

"Does a friend try to kill a comrade!?" Jiraiya snapped. "Because of that 'friend', you're in your current condition!"

"But..." Naruto stopped, finding it hard to argue the point. Jiraiya was right after all, as much as Naruto hated to admit it.

'_**For once, I agree with him.**_' Naruto's eyes widened as he heard the fox's voice in his head. '_**You tried to stop him and even with my chakra, he killed you. It's a fool's errand, boy.'**_

'_But I can't just accept his choice! He's going to die and for what?' _Naruto argued.

'_**Does it matter? Life is full of disappointments, get used to it.'**_

Unaware of his inner conversation, Jiraiya continued. "If you're going to go after Sasuke, then there'll be no training. I'll get Anbu Black Ops to watch you and depending on the case, prohibit you from leaving the village." He turned and looked at Naruto. "You aren't just an ordinary kid... You possess the Kyūbi that the Akatsuki are after! If you're going to act on your own without listening to what I say, then I will do what I have to..."

Hinata sat down next to Naruto, trying to be of some comfort as he was basically backed into a corner – forget Sasuke and train with Jiraiya, or continue chasing Sasuke, forgo training and become confined to the village.

"Eventually, you're going to deal with guys more troublesome than Orochimaru. Becoming a shinobi isn't just about jutsu or power...you also have to develop eyes that can make the right judgment and if you're going to live as a shinobi, become wise. If you remain a fool, the reality is that it will be tough living in this world. Sooner or later, this was going to happen: forget about Sasuke and dismiss him from your mind."

Hinata squeezed her hands together as Jiraiya finished. Despite not knowing the full story, she understood that at this point – as much as she didn't want to admit it – Sasuke was a lost cause; but that wasn't her choice to make. She gazed at the blond next to her and she could only imagine what could be going through his head, but whatever choice he made, she was going to stand by him and help in any way she could.

"Fine...if being wise means that I have to abandon my friends, then you can forget it! I said I was going to bring back Sasuke and I never go back on my word! Even if I have to train by myself and create even more awesome jutsu, I will save Sasuke no matter what; and when the Akatsuki come for me, I'll kick their butt too!" Naruto proclaimed, shocking Jiraiya with his choice.

'_That goes for you too fox, I don't care what you do to me or what you say to try and stop me – I will find Sasuke and bring him back!'_

_'__**Hn.' **_Was the only reply that Naruto got from Kurama.

Naruto felt a soft touch on his hand and looked down to see that Hinata had placed her hand over his. Looking up, he found her smiling face gazing at him. She nodded her head, letting him know that she approved of his choice.

The motion of Jiraiya shaking his head out of the corner of their eye's drew the two teens' attention. "If someone like you were to do it alone...the best you could come up with would be some stupid erotic jutsu, anyway," Jiraiya commented, having changed his mind due to Naruto's conviction.

Both Naruto and Hinata blushed a deep crimson. Hinata had on a occasion, seen Naruto in his 'Oiroke no jutsu' while trying to get Jiraiya to train him.

"Very well, be prepared once you're out of the hospital, you big fool. See you then." With that, Jiraiya stood up and made the small jump back onto the toads head.

"Roger!" Naruto saluted to the departing sage.

* * *

Aeron made his way down the hall, his sandals making a resounding 'clack' with each footstep against the hardwood floor. He absent-mindedly chewed on his toothpick as he tried to think of why he was being called here. Several scenarios had crossed his mind, but most didn't make any logical sense

He sighed as he stopped in front of a door which lead room that he had only been in twice since he had come to Konoha. He began to reach for the knob, but immediately stopped as his fingers touched its smooth surface. He pulled his hand away and scratched the back of his head. Why was he so nervous about this meeting? With a low growl, he quickly knocked on the door before he could stop himself again.

"Enter." Came a reply from inside. He reached for the knob once more, quickly turned it and walked in, closing the door behind him.


End file.
